Right Hand of Evil
by generalquistis
Summary: From Advent Children back to Final Fantasy 7,all in the hopes of changing the world? But Rufus ShinRa needed help, so he gets it from a person he never knew well until she got connected to him...
1. Chapter 1

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

oOoOo

It was a typical week day for Tifa Lockheart: wake up at 7, make breakfast for Marlene and Denzel, give Denzel his medication, walk Marlene to the bus stop for school, go to the marketplace and buy some food and supplies for the bar and for the house itself, go back to her house and do some chores, attend to Denzel, serve some food if ever Cid or Barret drops by for lunch, fetch Marlene from the bus stop at 3:15 pm, go back home, fix her some snacks, help her with her homework…

At least she thought it was typical… until the clock struck three in the afternoon and Tifa was getting ready to fetch Marlene from school. The telephone began to ring and it surprised her. Nobody ever calls up at that hour. She answered the call, "Hello?"

"Tifa?" asked a masculine voice after a few moments of silence. But he sounded sick.

"…Cloud?" she asked, feeling perplexed, wondering why he sounded sick.

"Could you… come over here at the Church? I'm… having some problems here and I'm gonna need your help." He said.

"Are you alright?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

But he hung up.

Now she had a problem: "But I have to fetch Marlene! … if I don't get there on time Barret might scold me or something… but then Cloud needs me. Oh alright. I can fetch Marlene first then hurry over to Cloud… but then it could be too late! Oh what to do, what to do…" she was talking to herself when she heard Vincent's voice calling out her name from the doorway. She turned to him with a stunned look on her face. She realized that she had been talking to herself… out loud… enough for Vincent to hear.

"Am I disturbing you?" Vincent asked with a confused look on his face, and his hand was holding onto the door as if ready to leave again.

She smiled coolly at him. "N…no, not at all." She said, although she was flushed. Of course she felt embarrassed. Vincent could think that she still had some of _those_ _feelings _for Cloud… but she just shrugged it off and approached him, "Oh Vincent, would you be kind enough to fetch Marlene from the bus station a few blocks away from here?" she asked with a pleading look on her face.

Vincent just stared glumly at her. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I have to go to Cloud. He called me up and he sounded like he's sick or something so… I figured I should attend to him…" she said rather hesitantly, wondering what's going on in Vincent's head already.

Vincent studied the look on her face for a few moments and then shrugged. "Alright. What about Denzel?" he asked.

"Oh. He's upstairs. Yuffie is attending to him." Tifa said.

"Yuffie is here? I thought she's in Wutai?" Vincent asked as she and Tifa both stepped out of the house and began to walk down the street.

"She wanted to take a vacation here for while, I don't know why though." Tifa replied before waving goodbye at Vincent and rushed towards the street leading to Sector 6.

In ten minutes, she made it to the ruined Church. She was panting hard because she ran all the way from where she parted ways with Vincent up to her destination. She took a little while to catch her breath before proceeding inside the Church. "Cloud?" she called out as she made her way to where she recalled he had placed his things.

But he was not there.

She frowned slightly, feeling a little dizzy as she neared the area. His things were neatly placed in one part of the area where he usually stays and apart from his usual things (like the gas lamp, cooler and the sleeping bag), she noticed a wooden box with a note on top of it. She approached it and stooped down, reading the note out loud, "_For Urgent Delivery_" and she turned to the recipient: "_Rufus ShinRa. Healin Lodge."_

She picked the box up and thought, "Maybe he wants me to deliver this to the Healin Lodge. I wonder if he's feeling well…" she began to look around, wondering where Cloud could be. "Oh well, I don't think he's here. He could be resting someplace else. I don't think he wants to be bothered. Oh well… better deliver this now if it's urgent. I don't want Cloud to be upset if this package doesn't arrive on time in the Healin Lodge." She decided before turning away, proceeding to the exit.

oOoOo

Marlene finally got down from the school bus and she smiled brightly when she saw Vincent Valentine by the waiting shed waiting for her. "Hi, Mister Vincent!" she greeted cheerfully.

He smiled slightly at her. "Hello, Marlene." He said as he offered a hand to her and when she took it, they began to walk hand-in-hand back to Tifa's house. "How was school?" he asked, thinking that he should talk to the child so that she would feel comfortable.

"It was great! I got five stars for a perfect attendance!" she said happily.

"That's splendid." He said with a blank look on his face, although he was trying to sound cheerful for the sake of the little girl.

"Mister Vincent, where's Tifa?" she asked.

"She… went to the Church." he replied rather hesitantly.

She blinked and looked up at him with a slight frown on her face. "What is she going to do there?" she asked.

"I don't know. But she said that…" Vincent began, but Marlene stopped walking with a concerned look on her face, "Did she say that she's going to see Cloud?" she asked.

Vincent blinked. "Well… Yes. Although I deem it impossible for her to see Cloud now…" he began.

She let go of him and rushed towards the street leading to Sector 6. "Oh no, she's gonna get scolded by Papa and the others again if she goes there! Come on, Mister Vincent! We have to go there!" she said as she led the way.

Vincent instantly ran after the girl. "Is it _that_ serious, Marlene?" he asked with a confused look on his face. He realized how ignorant he was on the issue because he was away from Tifa and the others for quite a long time ever since the last battle with Kadaj.

"Yes, Mister Vincent. The doctor advised her not to wander off to that Church!" Marlene replied.

Vincent frowned. "I thought she was just joking." He muttered, recalling what Tifa had told him.

However, by the time they arrived at the Church, Tifa was not there anymore.

"Oh no…" Marlene moaned in frustration with a worried look on her face.

"Where do you think she went?" Vincent asked, looking around and scanning the area. Marlene went over to the area where Cloud had left his things. She looked at the sleeping bag, the gas lamp and his other supplies; seemingly untouched for quite a long time already. "His things are still here. I thought Papa picked them up months ago?" she asked.

"Maybe he just forgot…" Vincent said softly before noticing that the flowers had bloomed and had multiplied already. What started as a flowerbed was beginning to spread. "…or he changed his mind." Vincent muttered before patting Marlene's shoulder. "Let's get you home first, then I'll look for Tifa." He told her.

She nodded her head slightly with a sad look on her face; and as they were walking back to Sector 7, she began to cry.

"What's wrong, Marlene?" he asked with a concerned look on his face as they stopped walking. He stooped down so he could face her properly. He was stroking her hair gently with his right hand, in hopes of comforting her. "Why are you crying?" he asked.

She sniffed and embraced him tightly. "I miss Cloud." She revealed sadly.

Vincent's facial expression stiffened slightly as he sighed heavily and just embraced Marlene, not knowing what to say to her anymore.

oOoOo

"Hi, I'm here to deliver a package for the President." Tifa introduced as she arrived at the entrance of the Healin Lodge where Reno was standing by with one of the security guards.

Reno blinked as he stared in awe at her. "Gee… long time no see, Miss Lockheart. I see you've taken over the courier service, huh? But… a courier business with your bar business? Must be a lot of hard work!" he said with a silly smile on his face as he approached her to inspect the package.

Tifa looked at him strangely. "You've got to be kidding me. I can't manage both jobs! Cloud's the one who started his Courier business. I still have my bar and I'm sticking to it and I'm just assisting Cloud because I have the telephone line." She told him, rolling her eyes at the end of the sentence.

Reno frowned, looking at her as if she just said something strange. "I… see." He said weakly as he continued to check the package. "Who is this from?" he asked.

Tifa shrugged. "I have no idea. Cloud just called up and he sounded sick so I went over to the Church to see if he was alright, then when I arrived there, I just saw this package with his things. He wasn't there but I guess he left a message for me, telling me to deliver this here." She said.

Reno raised an eyebrow as he stared at her in disbelief. "He called you?" he asked in confusion.

Tifa blinked. "Why, yes. Cloud calls me sometimes whenever he needs help with something regarding his courier service." She explained.

Reno swallowed hard, staring at her like she was talking crazy. "I'll take it from here." He took the package from her grasp and placed it on top of the guard's table. But Tifa went after him. "You're not going to open it, are you?" she asked.

"I have to double check. It doesn't have a sender's name and the recipient is President Rufus." He said as he began to open the wooden box. "Just doin' my job, Miss Lockheart." He told her.

Tifa just sighed, watching him do his job. "Fine. But doesn't that invade the President's right to privacy?" she asked.

"The Prez is sick. If something inside makes him sicker, Rude and I will suffer the consequences." He said.

She chuckled lightly, "So that's how loyal you men are to the President, huh? Interesting." She said in blunt amazement. "So tell me, how could you be so loyal to a ShinRa, especially to someone like Rufus?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Well, first of all, he's not really that mean if you get to know him better." Reno told her with a serious look on his face as he was finally able to lift off the lid of the wooden box. He peered inside and he raised his eyebrows upon seeing what was inside.

A thin pink satin ribbon.

Tifa looked inside the box and stared in awe. "What's this doing inside a big box?" she asked in confusion as she picked it up with her right hand and examined it.

Reno just stared at it. "Beats me! Are you sure you don't know who the recipient is?" he asked, feeling suspicious.

She shook her head. "Nah-uh." She put the ribbon back inside the box. "Well it looks harmless. It's just a pink ribbon. Why not give it to Rufus now? Maybe he ordered it or something so that he'll have something to be amazed with." She said with a silly smile on her face. Reno could tell that she was making fun of the situation and Rufus himself. He flashed her a silly grin. "Be thankful he's not around to hear you and I'm not a snitch." He told her before putting back the lid. "Looks kinda like the ribbon you're wearing right there." He told her, looking at the pink ribbon tied around Tifa's left arm.

"Well in case you're curious, I didn't send it. I mean, why would I even send something like that to… Rufus? I don't think he'd deserve anything like that in the first place." She said rather scornfully.

"What did he ever do to you anyway?" Reno asked, staring into her brown eyes with an inquiring look on his face. "I think you should just go home and rest more." He told her.

"What do you mean rest more?" she asked, feeling confused.

"You've been under too much stress lately according to your friends and I'm surprised you're here." He told her.

"What? My friends? Who?" she asked, surprised at what she said.

"Well, the Prez wanted to know how things are going in your world so one time he decided to call and Cid was the one who told us everything that happened to you." Reno told her.

Tifa was speechless for a while before regaining her composure and she frowned at him, crossing her arms. "Well nothing bad happened to me. And why would Rufus even want to find out how things are in my bar?" she asked.

"Well… it's just between the Prez and Cloud. Now if you'll excuse me…" he turned away from her but she caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder, "Wait a moment. Cloud talked to Rufus? Where is he anyway?" she asked.

"The Prez? He's upstairs in his room resting. In a while we'll take him to the treatment room again to change his bandages." Reno explained.

"No, I meant Cloud." Tifa insisted.

Reno was quiet for a while, staring at her. "I think you should go home." He said uneasily.

"No, where is he? I'm looking for him." She said.

"Why are you looking for him?" he asked.

"Because he called up and he sounded sick and I'm so worried about his condition! What if something bad happens to him?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

He was staring at her with wide eyes and he turned away. "You know, before you go, you can pass by the clinic in the next hall and ask for tranquilizers. I think you need it." He told her.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she watched him board the elevator. He just turned back to face her and told her, "I'll take this to the Prez now. Just go home and rest." He instructed before the door closed.

Tifa was dumbfounded. "Why is he telling me to rest?" she thought in annoyance before deciding to just go home.

oOoOo

Rude and Rufus stared at Reno in wonder as he entered with the wooden box and a disturbed look on his face.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Rude told him.

Reno approached them. "Not really. It's Tifa." He said as he placed the box by the floor in front of Rufus and his wheelchair where he was seated. "For you, Prez. She delivered it." He announced.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "She's in good condition already?" he asked in wonder.

"I don't think so. She was babbling something about Cloud telling her to deliver this to you." Reno told her.

Rufus was quiet for a while, looking at Reno with a frown on his face. "Cloud?" he asked.

"Oh no, not you too?" Reno wailed as he reached for Rufus's forehead and touched it, trying to feel his temperature.

"Quit that!" Rufus pushed his hand off his forehead. "Where is she?" he asked.

"I left her downstairs. Maybe she left already. Oh, but don't worry, Prez. I advised her to go to the clinic and take some tranquilizers. I told her she needed it. Heheh." Reno said before removing the lid for Rufus and showed him the content of the box. "Here you go, Prez." He said.

Rufus raised his eyebrows upon seeing the pink ribbon inside the box. He picked it up with his right hand. "Is this some kind of a bloody joke?" he demanded in confusion. "Go back downstairs and get Tifa." He instructed.

Reno shrugged and just ran off.

Rufus stared at the ribbon, feeling uneasy about the fact that he was holding it and the fact that Tifa mentioned that Cloud told her to deliver the package to him.

A few moments later, Reno returned with a tired look on his face. "She's gone. I thinks he walks fast or she took the bus back to Midgar." He told Rufus.

By 6 in the evening, Rufus was still thinking about the pink ribbon and Cloud. He could not understand the significance of the events and finally, he gave up. He clutched the pink ribbon tightly in his grasp. "Rude, my mobile phone." He instructed rather weakly.

Rude went over to Rufus's bedside table and got the mobile phone and handed it to him. Rufus flipped it and viewed the screen before searching for a contact in his contact list. When he found it, he pressed the dial button and put the mobile phone against his ear.

oOoOo

Yuffie jerked slightly upon hearing the telephone ringing. She took a quick glance on the wall clock hanging on the wall before turning to Vincent who was busily preparing dinner. "Looks like I have to answer it…" she muttered miserably before she got up from the chair in the dining room. She was assisting Marlene with her homework while Vincent was preparing dinner for them and Denzel was watching cartoons in the living room since Yuffie cannot watch him in his room upstairs.

Yuffie did not bother checking the caller I.D. and just answered the call, pressing the speakerphone button because she felt lazy to pick up the receiver. "Yeah?" she greeted bluntly.

"Is Tifa home yet?" asked a man from the other line.

Yuffie frowned slightly. "No. I don't know where she is. I can take a message if you want." She said impatiently.

"No, that would not be necessary. I was just checking. You see, she was here this afternoon." The man told her.

Yuffie's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open in shock. "OH MY GAWD! Who are you?" she demanded.

"…she delivered a package for me and she said that Cloud told her to do so." The man told her.

From the kitchen, Vincent could hear everything… and Cid and Barret, who had just arrived home, also heard the conversation between Yuffie and the man.

"_Cloud_? As in _Cloud Strife_?" Yuffie demanded in disbelief.

Barret marched over to Yuffie and the phone, "Who are ya, foo'?" he demanded.

"Rufus ShinRa." The man revealed.

They were all dumbfounded.

Yuffie swallowed hard before declaring, "But… that's impossible! Cloud told Tifa _that_? That's… crazy!"

"Yeah, it is, crazy! The damn guy's dead!" Cid pointed out.

Silence.

"I know." Rufus responded with a serious tone.

Silence.

"What's inside the package?" Barret asked with a worried look on his face.

Rufus was quiet for a while before responding, "It's a pink ribbon." He revealed.

oOoOo

Around nine in the evening, Rufus was asked to lie down on his bed and was instructed to sleep as a nurse injected some tranquilizers into him. He had been stressed out by the absurdity of the events.

Unknown to the nurses, doctors and the Turks, the pink ribbon was still in his grasp. He had become unaware that he was holding it.

Soon, the tranquilizers would take effect and he would be sleeping soundly, but he began to have a bad feeling about falling asleep. When he felt the tranquilizers taking control of his body, he began to fight it, but he was too weak and sick to do so. Giving up, he surrendered a deep sleep with a thought in his mind, "This could all be just a dream. I'll wake up and I can walk again, Cloud is alive and Midgar isn't destroyed… and I'll be in Junon as the vice president again and my Old Man is still alive in Midgar… and I swear, once I wake up from this bad dream, I'll be _nice_ and try to convince Old Man to stop the activity of the reactors and I'll change the world from there…"

But it was not long until he heard the sound of birds chirping from outside in merry morning's sunshine… and the sound of gentle waves crashing against the shore.

_Shore_?

Rufus ShinRa frowned in confusion as he instantly opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. It looked different. It does not look anything like the ceiling from the Healin Lodge; instead, it looked like the ceiling from his bedroom in Junon.

He could still hear the waves… and he breathed in the scent of the room. It did not smell like hydrochloric acid or anything like a squeaky-clean hospital room. Instead, it smelled like his bedroom in Junon.

He gasped slightly as he sat up… and he was alarmed when he did so because he was able to sit up by himself! … and strangely enough, he could feel his legs. And he turned to his left and gazed at his left hand and arm in disbelief. He has a left hand and a left arm. "What is this? Am I dreaming?" he thought to himself before hearing the sound of a woman yawning beside him to his right.

He turned to his right but there was no one there… until he looked at his right hand.

But to his utmost mortification, he did not have a hand anymore! Instead, it was a woman attached to his wrist… and she was naked. But her hair was covering her breasts and he somewhat thanked the heavens that she was attached on his wrist from her torso and up. But dammit, it's not a hand!

He wanted to scream but he wanted to remain calm at the same time because he had just realized that he had awakened in his old bedroom in Junon and that he was wearing his white long-sleeved pajamas and that he wasn't in the Healin Lodge anymore… and that his right hand has been replaced by a woman.

He pinched himself with his left hand to see if he was dreaming, but he was not. "Bloody hell!" he cried out in mortification.

She slowly opened her eyes upon hearing the noise. They were brown and she stared up at the big man in front of him. She gasped upon recognizing him. "…Rufus ShinRa?" she cried out in shock.

Rufus turned back to his right hand and stared at her with a look of shock. He could not stay calm anymore and he wanted to kill himself upon realizing that he was beginning to lose his sanity. Not knowing what to say or to make out of the situation, he just tried to act cool and collected as he moved his mouth to speak the first thing that popped out from his mind: "…Why are you attached to my wrist, Tifa?"

Tifa Lockheart looked down at herself and saw that she had no legs… and that the area of her abdomen was attached to Rufus's wrist… and that she was naked. She turned beet red as she grabbed the end of the sleeve of his pajama and covered her nakedness with it. "I have no idea!" she exclaimed in mortification as she gazed up at him.

And then she fainted.

"Blimey! I wish I could faint too!" his mind was screaming but he just stiffened and forced her to wake up, "Hey, wake up!" he snapped impatiently.

But she was still unconscious.

oOoOo

Author's Note: Concept inspired by the anime "Midori Days". I haven't actually watched a single episode of that anime but I keep on seeing its trailers everywhere on the cable stations… plus reviews on the TV guide.

To be continued. If you hate this fic, don't react anymore! I know that this is nasty already!


	2. Chapter 2

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

Chapter Two

"This is all a dream… once I wake up, I'll be back in my room… and I'll be big again… and I'll have my legs and feet back… and I won't be attached to Rufus ShinRa's wrist!" Tifa was reminding herself as she kept her eyes closed.

"TIFA!" but she heard that loud booming threatening voice once again coming from Rufus who was shaking her violently.

She opened her eyes again and gazed up at Rufus. "Oh my goodness… he's still bigger… and…" she looked down at herself. "I'm still naked and attached to his wrist." She thought to herself miserably. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She did not know what else to do but to cry. So she did.

Rufus stared glumly at her, "Oh stop crying, you…" he began threateningly as he shook his wrist.

"Well what else am I supposed to do?" she wailed, wiping her tears away with the back of her hands. "And why the bloody hell am I attached to your wrist and I'm so small… and you're big? Why can't it just be the other way around?" she complained helplessly as more tears streamed down her face due to confusion.

"Well I'm glad it isn't the other way around! I wouldn't want to be controlled by you, of all people!" Rufus told her with an annoyed look on his face before looking around his room. "Well… this doesn't look like the Healin Lodge…" he told her.

"And where are we?" she asked haughtily.

"We're in Junon, I think…" he told her with an uncomfortable tone as he saw the skies and the clouds outside the window.

They were interrupted when Rufus heard his mobile phone ringing. He turned to his bedside table and was about to grab it with his right hand, but saw Tifa attached to it instead, so he used his left hand instead and checked the caller I.D. His eyes widened upon seeing who it was. "It's my Old Man?" he inquired out loud.

Tifa blinked. "Isn't he dead?" she asked in confusion.

"I know…" Rufus said with a frown on his face before answering the call with an unsure tone, "H…hello?"

"Rufus, my boy! How are you doing?" he heard his father's voice from the other line.

Rufus stiffened and stared at Tifa with wide eyes. She was staring at him the same manner that he was, and she shrugged. Rufus looked away from her and continued to talk to his father. "You're alive?" he asked directly.

"What do you mean I'm alive? Of course I'm alive, you sonny boy! What, did you skip meals again and you can't think properly?" President ShinRa demanded.

Rufus was unsure how to react. He felt shaken. "I think I want to pass out…" he muttered to Tifa upon realizing what happened to them.

Tifa blinked.

"Well…anyway, I am still alive despite the fact that AVALANCHE's attacks are starting to get worse around here. They blew up some reactors." President ShinRa told him.

"AVALANCHE?" Rufus asked.

"Anyway, I'd like to know if you have signed the approval sheet I've sent you for Heidegger?" President ShinRa asked.

Rufus felt like he was experiencing déjà vu. "Approval sheet?" he asked, wanting to be sure.

"It's for the SOLDIER trainees there in Junon. You're the Vice-President and you're staying there so I want you to sign it! Now I have to go." President ShinRa hung up.

It took a while before Rufus regained his composure and he put down his mobile phone on his bedside table.

"Who was that?" Tifa asked glumly, keeping Rufus's sleeve against her chest. She noticed that he still looked a bit shaken even as he spoke, "It's my Old Man… and he's alive… and he's telling me to sign an approval sheet…" he told her.

"Well… what about the approval sheet? What's it for? And I heard my group's name, AVALANCHE. What's going on?" she asked curiously.

Rufus got his mobile phone again and checked the date. His eyes widened and he turned to Tifa again. "I think we… went back to the past?" he asked.

"What?" she exclaimed. "But how can that be possible?" she demanded in disbelief.

Rufus showed her the date on the calendar of his mobile phone. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him again. "Maybe your mobile phone is broken." She told him.

Rufus got up from bed, dragging his right hand by his side. Tifa felt a rush of blood to her head. "Ah! Rufus! Don't let me hang like this!" she cried out in panic.

Rufus turned back to her with a cold look on his face before proceeding to his study desk, not even minding her being upside down and being swung back and forth as he walked. He looked at his planner, then checked the calendar hanging on his wall, and then checked the date on his laptop after switching it on.

They were two years back from where they came from.

"Blimey…" his face suddenly lit up as he slowly faced his new right hand whose face was all red already. Tifa gazed dizzily at him. "You nasty… I beg you, don't do that again!" she told him.

He smiled slyly at her. "Tonight, Old Man will die!" he told her.

She snapped back to her senses and blinked. "What?" she asked.

"My Old Man will die tonight! Tonight's the night when Sephiroth's going to kill him and…" he trailed off when she spoke up, "Tonight's the night when you'll become President. Splendid." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

He tilted her over, causing her to scream. "AAAH! No! Not again!" she reacted upon feeling the blood go to her head again.

"Now are you going to behave, Miss Lockheart? You're a part of my bloody hand now so you'll obey me, otherwise, I might be forced to punch the wall with you as my new fist." He threatened with a serious look on his face as he turned her upright again.

She stared at him unbelievably. "You're horrible!" she said in exasperation.

"I know, isn't it splendid?" he asked with a sarcastically happy smile on his face before switching his facial expression back to his usual poker-faced look. "But why are we back here in the past? Damn, this is so unscientific but…" he muttered as he looked at the calendar once again.

"Oh yeah, did you get the package Cloud asked me to deliver to you?" she asked miserably as she crossed her arms.

"Yes, I did…" he said as he went over to the window to look outside. "It's a pink ribbon." He muttered.

"I know. And it's weird that it's a big box and there's only that piece of pink ribbon inside." She told him. She shrugged. "So that's why it's lighter than what I've imagined…" she realized. "But you know, I wonder why Cloud would even send you a pink ribbon…" she said.

"Wait a moment…" he apprehended with a frown on his face as he brought her close to his face so they could see eye to eye. "Are you sure you're back in good condition?" he asked.

She blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Rufus stared at her, studying the look in her brown eyes before saying, "I'd hate to be the one to break it to you again, but he's _dead_."

She stiffened and frowned at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"He… is dead. Because of the 'stigma. Can't you remember?" he asked with an inquiring look on his face.

But she seemed to have spaced out.

He sighed as he put down his right hand onto the desk. He just ignored her for a moment, thinking about the connection of the pink ribbon with their situation while staring at the calendar pinned on his wall. He was just interrupted when she heard her small sobs. He turned to her and saw that she had her face down on one of his notebooks and crying but trying to stifle her sobs. He lifted her up so he could face her. "Don't hide your face to me. I know you're crying. And I wouldn't like it when my hand is crying because if I start working in the office, I don't want anybody knowing what happened to us!" he told her sternly.

She looked away and wiped her tears away but did not say anything else.

Rufus frowned slightly when he recalled that he was holding the ribbon with his right hand ever since the first time he got it. Now it was gone and Tifa became his right hand. A realization came to him. "Tifa, were you holding a ribbon when you woke up?" he asked.

She shook her head miserably.

He got up and instantly went to his bed to search for the ribbon, but he was careful not to tilt her over again. He checked the whole area of the bed even underneath it, but there was no ribbon. "Damn! It's not here…" he muttered.

"Uhm… Rufus, could you get me some clothes?" she interrupted.

"Later." He said mindlessly before going over to the window to look at the Junon harbor.

"You think this has something to do with that ribbon?" she asked him weakly.

"A hundred percent yes." He muttered. "Although it seems absurd and unscientific, I guess we have to do something…Why else could we be back here in the past?" he asked with a frustrated look on his face.

Tifa just stared into his blue eyes and bowed down her head. "So that we could change something?" she asked softly.

Rufus looked up at the clouds and he narrowed his eyes. "Change?" he recalled thoughtfully. And he began to contemplate on the plans that he had mentioned to Cloud… and what he was telling himself before he fell asleep last night…

He felt his heart sink as reality gave him that blow. "Tifa," he said softly with an uncomfortable tone, although his face looked serious.

"Hmm?" she looked up at him curiously.

He took a deep breath before saying, "I think we're here for a reason… and the pink ribbon isn't the only one _playing tricks_ on us."

She blinked. "Playing tricks? Whatever do you mean by that, Rufus?" she asked in confusion. But when Rufus was about to answer, Tifa gasped, interrupting him. "Oh my God! So we have to change something here! But what is it?" she asked.

He stared glumly at her. "That, I do not know. And I don't think I'd like to know…" he muttered.

"Wait a moment. You mentioned your father is going to die tonight?" she asked.

"I didn't say anything like that…" Rufus fibbed, but Tifa was unconvinced.

"You have to prevent it!" Tifa told him.

Rufus stared unbelievably at him. "What for?" he demanded.

"Because… maybe that's what we're here for?" she asked.

"Look, our situation right now does not sound anything like those movies wherein people go back in time to prevent things from happening." He told her. She just frowned at him, crossing her arms. He rolled his eyes and proceeded, "Tifa, if we can change something that went wrong, we could have gone back to the time when JENOVA crashed into the Planet and prevent ShinRa from finding it!" he told her.

"But we weren't alive yet during those times, if I'm not mistaken." She said softly, lowering her gaze to the floor. And she smiled, "That's why we're going to change what we can change for now! Because who knows, the future could benefit from what we do now! Isn't it splendid?" she asked cheerfully with an optimistic look on her face as she looked up at him again.

He stared unbelievably at her. "Why should I save my Old Man?" his mind was screaming, but he just kept quiet and looked away from her, but he froze when he heard his mobile phone ringing again. He and Tifa exchanged glances as if silently asking each other, "Who could that be?" but nobody spoke up. Disturbed, Rufus went over to his mobile phone on the bedside table and picked it up, flipped it open and checked the caller I.D. Tifa read it clearly: SEPHIROTH.

Her eyes widened. "Sephiroth?" she exclaimed in shock.

"Shush." He snapped impatiently before answering the call. "Yes?" he asked coolly.

"Deal's a deal, Rufus." Tifa heard from the other line. It was clearly Sephiroth. Her eyes were wide as she stared in disbelief at Rufus upon realizing what he could have done. "Shame on you! You had it all planned with Sephiroth?" she demanded, shaking her head. "How could you wish for your own father's death?" she cried out in exasperation.

"Who's that?" Sephiroth asked Rufus.

"It's… no one." Rufus replied.

"I could've sworn I heard a woman right there. You're in your room?" Sephiroth asked with a teasing tone.

"It was no one. It's just the television." Rufus fibbed as he muffled Tifa's mouth by pressing her down on the pillow.

"Mrrghtppgrgh!" Tifa struggled to say.

"Yes, yes. What time?" Rufus asked Sephiroth as they continued to converse.

Tifa held on still, breathing hard against the pillow. He's really going to get some nagging from her. But she was thinking about Rufus's father. She knew and heard things about President ShinRa and those were bad things—that he was a womanizer, corrupt, he has a lot of vices… and at that moment, she wondered, "Why the bloody hell am I trying to stop Rufus from killing his father? Oh wait. He didn't kill his father. He _instructed_ Sephiroth to kill his father! Blimey! Are they friends? I didn't expect Sephiroth and Rufus to be friends!" She stopped thinking when she felt Rufus lift her up from the pillow and made her face him. The phone conversation with Sephiroth had ended. She stared in disbelief at him. "You owe me an explanation!" she told him, although she was afraid of what his reaction was going to be because she had totally lost her respect on him.

He just stared at her with his usual serious facial expression as he said casually, "Sephiroth and I _were_ friends." He told her.

The look on her face revealed to her that she failed to understand a thing he just mentioned, so he elaborated. "Alright. Since he works in ShinRa, at some point we met and became friends. He knew I hated my Old Man. I guess he also did. Everybody hates my father, you know that! I'm sure you do too," he told her with an inquiring look on his face.

She looked hesitant as she shrugged. She did not really like hurting anybody or seeing anybody getting hurt. But she was facing a dilemma.

"The friendship ended, I guess, when we realized we had different plans regarding this Planet. You know his." He told her before he sat down on his bed again with an uncomfortable look on his face.

She was quiet for a while before looking up at him with a confused look on her face, "But he's your father!" she said.

He just stared coldly into empty space, ignoring what she said.

"Rufus, we're here for a reason… whoever made us go back here. I'm sure we're supposed to do something… like, correct a wrong?" she asked.

"And what good will it do for the Planet if Old Man lives until two years later from where we came from?" he asked.

"…You can change him?" she suggested, but she was unsure.

"Stop pretending to be nice, Tifa. I know you hate my father as much as I hate him." Rufus told her airily.

She was surprised at him. "At least try!" she told him, ignoring what his last statement.

He looked at her with a challenging look on his face, "Try stopping Sephiroth now." He said with a cool smile on his face as if mocking her.

She pursed her lips and frowned at him. "But I'm going to need your help." She told him.

He frowned at her. "Stubborn…" he muttered before shrugging. "Let me get dressed into my _old_ clothes first." He told her as he got up from the bed. "And I guess you might want a replica of your _old_ clothes? The one with the appalling mini skirt?" he asked sarcastically.

"Whatever. As long as they can fit me, I wouldn't mind doll's clothes." She muttered miserably.

He stopped in his tracks before going to his desk and pressed the intercom. "Whoever is there, could you purchase doll's clothing? Make sure it's red or black or white. I don't like blue. Bring them to my room immediately." He instructed.

Silence.

"A doll, sir?" a servant responded.

"You heard me. You know those small dolls little girls play with nowadays? Buy some of their clothes, charge them to my credit card and bring them to my room once you get them." He explained.

"What will you need them for, sir?"

Rufus stiffened, "For my niece." He told the servant.

"But sir, you don't have a niece." The servant replied.

"She's the daughter of a very distant cousin. It's her birthday tomorrow. Now go!" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"Yessir!"

Rufus switched off the intercom. She turned to Tifa who was smiling sweetly at him. "Thank you, Rufus. I knew you had a heart." She said.

"Of course. Otherwise, my internal organs wouldn't be complete and you'd be attached to a corpse." He said airily as he flipped his hair. He smiled as he did so. "I missed doing that!" he thought secretly.

She just rolled her eyes as he headed for the bathroom.

"Now shut your eyes and don't open them until I say so." Rufus told her as he entered the bathroom.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Rufus." Tifa replied, closing her eyes. "Are we going to Midgar to stop Sephiroth or something?" she asked curiously.

"Looks like we have to do it if we want to get back to the future. I feel rather uneasy being here in the past…" Rufus thought to himself silently, not really wanting to reveal his thoughts to her because he did not want to sound vulnerable. "Just keep quiet and keep your eyes closed." He told her sternly.

As he was washing his face with his left hand, he remembered the pink ribbon again. "Who among your friends have the pink ribbon?" he asked.

"Aerith." Tifa instantly replied.

"Aerith Gainsborough?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"Cloud told me something about her." He told her.

"Really? What was it?" she asked.

"A secret between two men conversing in private." He replied coldly.

She snickered maliciously.

He glared at her, "What's so funny?" he demanded with a frown on his face.

"Nothing. I just can't imagine you and Cloud spilling secrets to one another. So that's what you do with him whenever he visits you at the Healin Lodge. Interesting." She replied nonchalantly.

He purposely put her underneath the faucet and got her wet with flowing water. "ACK! So cold!" she shrieked.

He withdrew her from the water and shook her. "Now will you behave?" he demanded.

She opened her eyes and glared at him.

"And close your eyes. I'm about to take off my clothes." He told her.

She looked away and just did as she was told to do.

oOoOo


	3. Chapter 3

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

Chapter Three

* * *

President ShinRa was surprised to see his son arrive in his office while he was speaking to the captured members of AVALANCHE. The Turks who were standing guard (namely Rude and Reno) were also in awe to see the Vice President walk towards his father.

Rufus kept his right hand inside right lower pocket of his blazer as he kept a distant air from AVALANCHE and focused his attention on his father.

"What's he doin' here? I thought he's away on a business trip?" Barret muttered to Cloud.

"Who is he?" Cloud asked curiously.

"His name is Rufus. He's the President's son." Aerith explained.

President ShinRa frowned and got up, "What are you doing here, son? Aren't you supposed to be in Junon?" he asked.

Rufus hesitated for a while before replying, "I… just want to see how you are, _father_." He felt someone poking him from his pocket but he just stiffened further. "It…sure is… nice to see you again." he said. He felt like he was citing lines from a play, but he was a good actor and everyone was convinced…

Everyone but the President. "Okay, Sonny Boy. What do you want?" he asked sternly, crossing his arms and scanning the look on Rufus's face.

Rufus was quiet for a while but then he felt the poking again from his pocket, so he answered, "Nothing, fa…_father_. I just wanted to visit you." And he turned towards AVALANCHE. "You have visitors, I see," he said casually as he scanned the looks on the faces of Cloud, Aerith, Barret and Red XIII.

The four just stared back at him strangely.

"I thought you were _five_?" Rufus asked.

The four were surprised at him.

"Five?" Aerith asked.

Barret and Cloud exchanged looks, recalling Tifa.

"What do you mean, _five_, son?" President ShinRa asked.

Rufus turned to his father again. "I… was able to trace what AVALANCHE's plans are when I was in Junon. There's another… missing." He hesitated when he felt Tifa poking him from inside his pocket. "Ah… hold still…" he was thinking.

Tifa was already having a hard time breathing inside and it was extremely warm there.

"We don't know where she is. Maybe you kidnapped her." Barret sneered at him.

Rufus faced him with a calm look on his face. "Oh really? Why would I even do that? I don't even know her." He told them before facing his father again. "So… what do you say you release these people and… let's have dinner together at… the seafood restaurant in the Sector 1 Mall?" he asked with a cool smile on his face.

President ShinRa gave him a suspicious stare. "I could've sworn I've deposited five hundred thousand Gil in your bank account where I put your weekly allowance…" he said slowly.

"No, I don't need any money. I just… want to spend time with you." Rufus said, wanting to tell Tifa at that moment how fake he sounded because he was following the "script" that she had made for him for that occasion.

President ShinRa exchanged confused looks with the Turks, also with AVALANCHE. Then he noticed that his son's right hand had been inside the right blazer pocket for quite a long time already. "Hiding a pistol there? Gonna shoot your Old Man's brains?" he demanded with a sly smile on his face.

Rufus stiffened.

"Damn!" Tifa thought to herself as she stiffened too.

Rufus slowly brought out his right hand, revealing to everyone… that it was covered in bandages.

"What happened to your hand?" President ShinRa demanded.

"…Such uncontrollable caressing kills." Rufus replied with a slight smile on his face.

Silence.

President ShinRa smiled maliciously at him. "Heheheh. You naughty, naughty boy, you! C'mere, Sonny Boy! Give your Old Man a hug!" he said, welcoming his son with open arms.

Rufus hesitated for a while. "Gee… he bought it. I knew he's got an obscene mind. Tifa's smart after all…" he was thinking to himself before proceeding to his father.

President ShinRa was the one who embraced him but he did not hug back.

Rufus felt his "right hand" shaking and his eyes widened a little upon feeling it. It was Tifa signaling for him to embrace him back. Rufus had a poker-faced look on his face as he embraced his father back to look more convincing.

"Now, could you release the prisoners?" Rufus asked.

President ShinRa let him go. "Of course not, silly!" he turned to Rude and Reno. "Take them to the prison cells." He instructed.

"Yes sir." The two Turks obeyed.

While watching the Turks escort AVALANCHE out of the President's Office, Rufus fixed his eyes on Aerith.

And he saw the pink ribbon on her hair. "Bloody brilliant…" he muttered to himself. "Aerith is wearing pink," he muttered to Tifa as he brought her close to his mouth so that she would be the only one who can hear him while his father was busily checking his files.

"So what if she's wearing pink?" she responded softly in a voice audible enough for only Rufus to hear.

"Her ribbon could be the key so that we could go back to the future." He responded.

"That's absurd!" she reacted.

"I know. But we have to try! Didn't you touch the ribbon too? And I was holding it before I woke up today and realized I'm here in the past!" he told her.

"Who're you talking to, Sonny Boy?" President ShinRa asked curiously from his desk.

Rufus jerked slightly and turned to his father with a stiff look on his face. "Are you finished yet?" he asked.

President ShinRa sat down on his chair again and proceeded to work. "'fraid not, son. I have to check the plan for the new reactors." He told him.

Rufus gently placed Tifa inside his right blazer pocket once again as he approached his father. "What do you need those for?" he asked with a frown on his face.

"These reactors are what can keep Midgar running." President ShinRa said mindlessly as he began to look at the blueprints.

"By sucking the life out of the Planet?" Rufus asked.

President ShinRa looked at him. "Since when did you start getting concerned about the Planet?" he asked suspiciously. "Have you eaten your dinner yet or are you starving yourself to death again? You're talking crazy, Sonny Boy." He pointed out.

Rufus swallowed hard, trying to condition himself. He could recall the things that happened in the future from where he came from, and at that exact point where he was standing before his father and trying to save the Planet, he realized how terrible the future events will be if he is not able to change his father's mind.

"This may sound absurd, father, but… the Planet has its ways to get back at the people if they abuse her resources. Just think of the children who will be affected by famine, drought… and incurable illnesses if the Planet decides to get back at us." Rufus said.

President ShinRa looked at him like he was crazy. "And your point is?" he asked.

"Cancel all activities for the reactors. We can search for other sources for electricity." Rufus pointed out.

President ShinRa frowned at him. "That's too expensive." He said.

"We have the money to do it." Rufus insisted.

Tifa sighed heavily. "This is harder than I thought…" she muttered to herself.

President ShinRa was quiet for a few moments before telling Rufus, "Go home. Just go back home to Junon and leave me here. I don't need you here to tell me what to do. I am the President, you are the Vice President. I am your father, and you are my son, and whatever I say, you will have to do, do you understand?" and he turned back to his work again. "The reason why I sent you to Junon to live there in the first place is so that you can leave me alone. You're just like your mother. You always find ways to contradict me and my opinions. Now go!" he snapped angrily.

Rufus felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of his mother. He slowly brought out his right hand mindlessly as he stared at his father. "I guess there's no way I could change your mind, just like what mother tried to do." He muttered to his father before turning away. "I wish you were different." He said softly before he walked away. "Goodbye." He said before he went down the stairs.

President ShinRa observed his son as he walked away from him. He had a hard look on his face as he began to think about what his son had just said.

oOoOo

"Rufus, could you get the bandages off my head for a while? I'm really having a hard time breathing here." Tifa told Rufus as he was walking to the elevators.

Rufus pressed the down button and waited. He had a stunned look on his face as he continued to stare into empty space. He took a deep breath as he unwound the bandages off Tifa's head. She breathed in fresh air. "Whew! I think I never enjoyed breathing in some air like this… even though it's ShinRa air." She said in relief. She looked up at him and noticed the dazed look on his face. "I thought you're cured of Geostigma… for the meantime anyway?" she told him curiously.

He was just quiet as he kept on staring at the elevator door, trying to keep cool. "I don't have Geostigma now. But I think I'll eventually get it two years later from now." He said with a casual tone.

She saw the hurtful look in his blue eyes and she bowed down her head. She was not used to seeing him looking so vulnerable, and she did not know what to do. "Where are we going now?" she asked.

"We'll get the pink ribbon." He told her.

"You'll get it from Aerith?" she asked in disbelief.

"I won't go near her. You do the talking." Rufus instructed with a slight smile on his face.

Tifa frowned at him, "Me? But it's not even the ribbon that we touched!" she told him.

"I know, but why do you wear those ribbons anyway with your clothes? Isn't it in honor of Aerith?" he asked airily.

"Still, it's not her hair ribbon." She told him, not really wanting to tell him the real and exact reason behind the ribbons. "The original one… is with Cloud. The one she's wearing right now. And I think we buried him with it." Tifa said rather hesitantly, feeling bad upon remembering that two of her very good friends have died already in the future.

Rufus was silent. He seemed to have other things in his mind other than their present situation, so she just looked away, deciding to just oblige with what he wanted her to do to avoid further trouble with him. The last thing she would want to happen would be Rufus using her as his fist and punching the wall or other hard surface he could come in contact with because he got annoyed with her.

As the elevator door opened, Tifa heard President ShinRa calling out Rufus's name, "Rufus!"

"It's your father," she said.

Rufus ignored the two and just stepped inside. The elevator door closed and he pushed the button going to the floor where the prison cells are located. The elevator began to move down.

President ShinRa stopped running as he reached the elevator. He paused to catch his breath before he completely calmed down, staring at the elevator door for quite some time before smiling slightly. "…I just want to apologize, Sonny Boy. I hope we can still talk." He muttered to himself. But he proceeded back to his office because his mind was set on finishing his work before dealing seriously with his son. Maybe after work he could call him and ask him to meet him at a coffee shop where they could just sit down, have coffee (or tea, since he figured Rufus never liked coffee), and talk.

He smiled at the idea as he sat down again on his chair and stared at the blueprints for a while. His smile faded away when he stared at the blueprints. It was a hard decision to make but he knew he had to make it. He sighed heavily and realized that he could not finish the work for that night. With that, he got a notepad, tore out a single page and began to scribble something there. Afterwards, he stared at it and placed it underneath the paperweight. "I'll just have a Turk give this to Rufus later on…" he decided before turning back to the blueprints for a decision; but before he make up his mind about the company and his son, he felt something sharp and long impale him from his back.

oOoOo

The SOLDIERs in charge of guarding the prison cells were surprised to see Rufus walking to them. "Where did you put the members of AVALANCHE?" he asked coldly.

"Oh. Sir… eh… over there, sir." One of the SOLDIERs replied, pointing at the two consecutive doors from where they were standing in the entrance.

Rufus approached the first door. "Who's in here?" he asked.

"The girl and the blonde man with spiky hair." The SOLDIER replied.

"You put them together in one cell? What if they're doing something in there right now?" Tifa demanded carelessly.

Rufus hushed her by holding her head with his left palm and then shoved her down inside his blazer pocket again to muffle her protests.

"You were saying, sir?" a SOLDIER asked, surprised at the comment.

"You must be hearing things. I'd like to speak alone with the prisoners. So step out for a while." Rufus instructed.

The SOLDIERs had no choice but to obey.

With that, Rufus brought Tifa out of his pocket. "Pardon me for doing that, Tifa." He told her with a stiff look on his face.

From inside the 2 prison cells where Cloud and Aerith, and Barret and Red XIII were imprisoned, they heard what Rufus had told Tifa.

"…Tifa?" they wondered.

"You talk to them." Rufus told Tifa.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because they are your friends." He said with an annoyed look on his face.

She rolled her eyes and began to speak, "…Cloud?" she called out loud in a voice audible enough for her friends to hear, since she's so small.

Cloud exchanged looks with Aerith before responding. "Tifa?" he asked.

"Foo'! You're here!" Barret exclaimed.

"What happened to you? You had us all worried!" Aerith told her with a worried look on her face as she got up and went to the door.

"I… was just… hanging around…" Tifa fibbed, looking at Rufus with a hesitant look on her face.

"Is Rufus with you?" Barret demanded.

"What… made you say that, Barret?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

"We heard him apologizing to you." Red XIII told her.

Rufus and Tifa exchanged mortified glances before turning back to the door. "Uh… he's not here anymore." The latter reasoned.

"You sure?" Cloud asked suspiciously.

Red XIII sniffed the air. "I can still smell him… and you're standing very close to him." He revealed.

"Blimey." Rufus muttered to himself with a glum look on his face.

Tifa scratched her head. "He's not here anymore. Maybe his scent just got stuck on me because I bumped into him a while ago that's why he's apologizing!" she explained, trying to force a smile on her face.

"He didn't apprehend you?" Cloud asked in disbelief.

"Of course not! I'm… in a disguise! He thought I was a Turk! I'm wearing their suit!" Tifa fibbed, although she was wearing a red dress with puffy sleeves and ruffles and a black jacket with purple studs sewn on its sleeves. The dolls' clothes that had been brought for her were not exactly trendy and lovely for her and Rufus's tastes, but she had to put them on so that she would not be naked anymore. Even Rufus found the clothes horrendous.

"Foo'! Just get us out of here!" Barret told her.

"I can't do that. I might get into trouble." She replied rather hesitantly.

"Why would you even get into trouble if you're in a disguise?" Aerith asked curiously.

"Are you hiding something from us, Tifa? You just disappeared one day and now you're wearing a Turk uniform." Cloud said suspiciously with a frown on his face, although he remained seated on the bed with his arms crossed.

"…No, I'm not. But I… need something from you guys." Tifa responded hesitantly.

"Get us out of here first." Barret insisted.

"I'll get you out of here in time but first of all, I need Aerith's ribbon." Tifa said.

Silence.

"My what?" Aerith asked in awe.

"The ribbon on your hair. You know, the pink ribbon?" she asked.

Aerith exchanged confused looks with Cloud before turning back to the door. "What ever do you need it for, Tifa?" she asked in confusion.

Tifa looked up at Rufus, searching for an answer in his eyes. He did not even respond. He just shrugged.

She just shrugged at him and flashed him a look which said, "Come on, think of a reason!"

Rufus mindlessly answered, "Tell her that you need to tie your hair."

Tifa's eyes widened. "EEPS! Why did you speak?" she demanded in shock.

"Bloody hell!" Rufus covered his mouth.

Silence.

"You traitor! You're working with Rufus?" Barret demanded in shock.

"Tifa, how could you?" Aerith asked in disbelief.

"Damn, I just got _Tifa'd_ back there." Rufus muttered.

"What do you mean?" Tifa demanded in annoyance.

"It means I just acted _stupid_." Rufus replied with an annoyed but stern tone.

"Why, I never…" she began, feeling offended. She was about to tell him off but they heard heavy footsteps approaching from the entrance.

"Quit yapping and let's hide." Rufus whispered to her as he ran off, going to one of the old vacant cells without the automatic door, stepping inside there.

"What's that?" Tifa asked softly, her eyes wide in sudden fear upon the recognition of the sound, but she still wanted to be sure.

"Doesn't sound like any of those guards to me." Rufus told her as she grabbed onto the door, eventually dragging it along with her as Rufus moved away from it…

SLAM.

Silence.

Rufus turned back to the door with a look of disbelief on his face, "TIFA!" he wanted to scream as he tried to open the door but it would not. It can only be opened from outside.

"You nasty…" he muttered, staring at her like he was ready to chop her off from his wrist.

She smiled sheepishly at him. "I'm sorry! I didn't know that it can only be opened from outside! Besides, you wouldn't want it to appear obvious that someone's hiding in here!" she reasoned.

His mind was still screaming at him but he just shook off his anger as he went over to the door and listened for any further movement outside. "It's Sephiroth." He whispered.

"How do you know?" she asked softly with fear in her eyes.

"I know the sound of his footsteps." He replied.

Tifa eyed him suspiciously but she just kept quiet.

It was awfully silent outside but they still did not move. Rufus and Tifa were still listening for any further movement.

"What is he doing?" Tifa whispered.

"I don't know but he's still there…" he responded softly with a frown on his face.

Tifa looked up at the ceiling and saw that there was a vent. "Rufus," she said, tugging at his sleeve gently and then pointed up at the vent when he turned to look at her. He raised his eyebrows. "What do you want to do?" he asked.

"Go up there." She said.

"I beg your pardon?" he demanded in a whispery tone.

"You do want to get out of here, right? I know you don't want to yell for help because it's not in your personality description, if I am not mistaken," she said with a sly smile on her face as she crossed her arms. He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath before turning to a steel chair in one corner of the room. "What do you know about me, Tifa?" he asked in exasperation as he walked over to the chair, picked it up single-handedly with his left hand and positioned it right below the vent.

"Just the obvious stuff that people had mentioned about you. For example, Barret told me that you're President ShinRa's son… and then Aerith said that no one's ever seen you bleed or cry…" she began to recall the night when she first saw Rufus on the 70th floor's balcony right after the death of President ShinRa… "It's all going to happen later on, unfortunately I won't be there tonight because I'm attached to you." She said, rolling her eyes as Rufus stepped onto the chair and eyed the vent with a disgusted look in his blue eyes. "What will I do?" he asked.

"Remove the grills and then you climb up there." She instructed.

"Climb up there? That's disgusting!" he retorted.

"But we have to get out of here!" she said. He just stared at her with a frown on his face. She rolled her eyes. "It isn't all that bad. I've been there before." She told him.

"And you smelled bad." He told her.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "I beg your pardon?" she demanded.

"Don't you remember that when I approached you firsthand during my inauguration speech? Don't think that I failed to take a whiff out of your odor back there, Tifa." He said airily with a sly smile on his face as he used his left hand to flip his hair mindlessly.

She stared at him in mortification, "You can remember me from that?" she demanded.

"Well actually I can remember you because of your putrid odor." He told her before looking up at the vent. "Now if you're going to be attached to me for quite some time until we can figure out how to wake ourselves up from this nightmare, I don't want you smelling anything like that anymore. Is that understood?" he asked sternly.

She bit her lower lip, frowning in annoyance as she rolled her eyes. "Let's just get this over with." She said.

Rufus took a deep breath before touching the grills above him. He immediately withdrew he left hand from it in disgust. "Argh! I hate dust!" he reacted in annoyance as he shook his left hand violently and instantly jumped off from the stool.

"Rufus, it's just dust!" Tifa said with a slight smile on her face. She had to admit he acted funny back there and when she could not take it any longer, she just had to let out her laughter.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Your obsessive-compulsion is funny, Rufus." She told him. "It's just dust Rufus. We even inhale it even if we don't see it. It's everywhere." She said.

"Oh. I never knew you're that smart, Tifa." He said sarcastically with a frown on his face.

"Hey, don't underestimate me just because I didn't attend formal schooling like you did!" she told him, feeling insulted.

"I didn't say anything like that, Tifa." He said with a mocking tone before he looked up at the vent again. "Bloody hell…" he stepped onto the chair again. "Why don't you touch it instead?" he asked.

"I'm too small. Those grills are too heavy for me." She reasoned.

"Well then I'll help you. I'll force you up." He told her as he moved her towards the grills.

She sneezed because of the dust but grabbed hold of one of the bars. "Pardon me for sneezing." She said, excusing herself.

Rufus did not answer. He just observed Tifa and waited until she was holding on the bars. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yes." She answered simply.

He gave her a slight push upward but the vent was too heavy for her.

"Rufus, I need you to hold the grills with your left hand." She instructed.

He grunted before giving in to her request. He reached out his other hand to the grills and then gave it a push.

It budged upward and then he pushed it sideways to give way for passage.

"There you go! Wasn't that easy?" she asked brightly with an optimistic tone.

Rufus stared at his soiled left hand. "I sure hope it's easy to clean off this… ugh… dust and grime!" he remarked before looking up at the open vent again. "I think I'm going to get asthma afterwards…" he muttered.

"Well you do want to get out of here, right? If Sephiroth finds you here he'll probably get suspicious of you." She told him sternly.

"Of _me_? Why only me? You're with me." He protested.

"Well you wouldn't want to reveal to your _friend_ that a woman is attached to your right wrist and has replaced your right hand, right?" she asked.

He clenched his jaw, not wanting to argue further with her. He lifted her up towards the passage. "Check if there are any mice, spiders or cockroaches… or any strange insect inside." He told her.

She shuddered, but looked around the vent anyway. "…nope. I can't see anything strange. Though it's rather…" she sniffed and covered her nose. "Oh my God! It's horrible!" she reacted.

He withdrew her from the passage. "Alright we're going in." he told her with a determined look on his face. "…even though it stinks there…" he was thinking. But he could still sense Sephiroth outside. "What's he doing there? Waiting for people to fall asleep?" he thought as he levered himself and Tifa up into the vent.

Rufus was fighting nausea as he began to crawl.

"Alright, where to?" he asked.

"I don't know." She said softly.

He stopped and took a deep breath. "You made me come up here with you and now you don't know where to go… splendid!" he said sarcastically.

"Well how should I know? This is ShinRa you should know where to go." She told him.

"Unfortunately I know the ShinRa building but not the vents! This is like an endless maze if you ask me." He told her.

She grunted. "Alright, alright. Where do you plan to go? Maybe I could try to navigate in case your sense of direction is bad…" she muttered.

"Oh for your information, my sense of direction isn't bad. Now if you'll excuse me, we have to start crawling now." He told her before crawling to the right. "Blimey. Remind me to tell housekeeping to clean the vent once we get out of here…" he muttered.

"…_if_ we get out of here." She said softly.

"We _will _get out of here." He told her with a determined look on his face.

_One hour later…_

"I'm sweating like a swine…" Rufus muttered under his breath as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"If you're not wearing that three-layered suit, then you wouldn't be suffering like that." She told him.

"Whatever gave you the idea that I'm wearing a three-layered suit?" he asked, trying to sound innocent.

"I'm a good observer." She said proudly.

"You were peeking when I was getting dressed!" he said accusingly.

"I did not!" she protested.

"Yes you were. Now where are we going?" he asked, wanting to change the subject as they came across a ladder leading up.

"I don't know. Might as well go through that." She replied.

Rufus obliged. He just had to get out of there and all options were being considered. Upon reaching the top, he was crawling horizontally again. "Blimey. This is endless." He said.

"What if we get stuck here forever?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"Will you stop thinking about that?" he demanded.

"I can't help but become paranoid!" she cried out in panic before covering her face. "Oh bloody hell… if we don't get out of here I don't wanna be found in here as a skeleton!" she said.

"…a skeleton attached to my skeleton. That's so bloody wrong! Everyone will think I was a freak when I was alive." He said as he sped up upon seeing some light at the end of the vent tunnel and feeling some cool air from the airconditioner hitting his face from that light. "We'll get out of here and go back to the prison and get Aerith's ribbon." He decided.

"If she has the intention to give it to us." Tifa said with a glum look on her face.

"Don't worry, we'll force her." He said stiffly.

Finally, they reached the end and saw an opening covered with grills. "Here we are." He peered down. "It's Old Man's office." He said.

"Can you see anyone?" she asked.

Rufus focused his gaze below… and saw his father still seated on his chair, but this time, he was slumped on his desk… and bloody.

"Bloody brilliant. We're too late…" Rufus muttered before forcing the grills off and then got down from the vent. He landed on his feet behind his father's chair.

"Oh my God. This feels like déjà vu…" Tifa said softly as she stared horridly at the corpse while Rufus neared it.

Rufus frowned slightly as he stared at his father's current state. He had to admit he felt stunned, but he just kept quiet and stared at the corpse with a cold look on his face. But Tifa saw the shock being expressed in his eyes.

"…you're… surprised." She told him softly.

Rufus blinked and just looked away. "I never really took a look at him when he died… I just… told the Turks to send him to the mortuary and have him cremated and then… have his ashes thrown somewhere." He said with a serious tone before scanning the work that his father was doing. The blueprints were stained with blood now and the other documents spread across the table had blood splattered on them. What caught his eye was the paper underneath the paperweight.

Tifa led his hand and she picked it up. Rufus was surprised that she was able to move by herself and was able to drag him towards the paper.

They read it silently:

_"Rufus. Sorry for my behavior early this evening. Maybe you and I could talk sometime and discuss our personal issues? After all, we've only got each other now. Sorry. I just want the best for you. Love, Papa."_

Rufus's lips curled into a scornful pout as he grabbed the paper from Tifa's grasp with his left hand and he just crumpled it. When he was about to throw it away, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Rufus's frown deepened as he mindlessly shoved the crumpled letter inside his left blazer pocket and he walked away from his father, taking one last look at him and then rushed to the balcony.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Sephiroth!" he called out, ignoring her inquiry. He shoved Tifa inside his right side trouser pocket as he reached the balcony and looked around and then up at the skies. "Sephiroth!" he repeated.

He sounded exasperated. Tifa even heard a slight choke as he yelled, but she did not react. She just kept still. She could feel the rest of his right arm heating up as if he was feeling tense or something.

"You sound as if you're unsatisfied by what I did?" Sephiroth asked from the topmost part of the tower as he peered down at Rufus with a demented look in his wide green eyes.

Rufus did not look at him and he just kept still, facing the wind blowing against his face as he stood near the railing of the balcony. He swallowed hard and kept his head held up high. "Just leave before anybody else arrives…" he muttered.

Sephiroth smiled slyly at him before finally leaving.

"What was that all about?" Tifa cried out from inside his pocket. She sounded muffled but he was able to understand her fully. "Aren't you feeling the least bit guilty about your father's demise?" she asked.

He just swallowed hard and smiled bitterly, knowing that nobody else can see it. "Everything happens for a reason, Tifa." He said with a stern tone as a chopper began to approach.

But before Rufus could signal for the chopper to land so that he could hop in, he heard people coming out from the 70th floor…

oOoOo

to be continued


	4. Chapter 4

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

Chapter Four

oOoOo

It was Cloud's party.

Rufus turned around to face them with a stern look on his face. "Blimey. Your friends are here, Tifa. And there's Aerith." He muttered with a voice audible enough for Tifa to hear while trying to look serious. Cloud and his gang were of a safe distance from him so he could move his lips slightly to speak to her.

"Don't harass Aerith, if that's what you're thinking." Tifa warned him.

"I won't harass her. I just need her ribbon." Rufus told her before turning to Barret who demanded from him, "Where is Tifa?"

Before Rufus could think of an answer, Palmer came rushing in. "Gee. Just like before…" he thought silently to himself.

"Sir! Sephiroth was here! He killed your father!" Palmer announced.

"I know. That's why I'm out here and I chased him." Rufus fibbed, and he sounded convincing.

"Alright, man, enough with the chitchat, where is Tifa?" Barret asked.

Rufus turned to them with a clueless look on his face. "How did you escape from prison?" he asked.

"Duh. Sephiroth freed them." Tifa told him in a voice audible enough for only Rufus to hear. He moved his wrist so that she would hit against his hip bone. "Ow! That bloody hurt!" she reacted.

Silence.

"Who was that?" Palmer asked, looking around.

"Must be a bee. Anyway, scoot. I'll take over from here." Rufus said.

Palmer turned around to leave but Rufus called for him again, "Palmer,"

Palmer turned to face him. "Yes, sir?" he asked.

Rufus had a stiff look on his face. "…Send… my father's body to the mortuary. Get him the most expensive but exquisitely-designed coffin. I want him buried in the cemetery in… Kalm." He instructed.

Palmer looked at him in disbelief. He and the other executives knew that Rufus despised his father, but he seemed different this time. Palmer turned to Rufus's right arm. "And why is he hiding his hand in his pocket?" he wondered before shrugging. "Yes sir." And he left.

Rufus turned his attention back to AVALANCHE. "You were saying?" he asked, still keeping up his act.

"We're wondering where Tifa is. We know she's with you. We heard you conversing moments ago." Cloud told him.

Rufus suddenly remembered that he and Cloud would be having a battle later on, and then he felt ready for it, but then he remembered he was right-handed… "Damn…" he muttered to himself. "She's not with me. Whoever she is…" Rufus answered, rolling his eyes. He flipped his hair with his left hand. "And why would she even be with me? She's one of you… filthy people! Not my type of crowd. I would not even hang out with her even if she was the last woman on earth." He said coolly.

Silence.

He felt her bite his skin along with the cloth. "Argh!" Rufus's mind was screaming in slight pain although he just kept still and maintained an expressionless look on his face.

"How dare he insult them!" she was thinking in annoyance.

"I have to go now. I can't provoke them. I can't hold my shotgun properly with my left…" he thought to himself before shrugging, "Would you mind introducing yourselves to me first before I tell you where Tifa is?" he asked coolly.

"…so you know where she is?" Aerith asked.

Cloud was quite hesitant before telling Rufus, "Cloud Strife. Ex-SOLDIER. First Class."

"A flower girl from the slums." Aerith said.

"A research specimen." Red XIII chimed in.

"I'm from AVALANCHE." Barret said.

Rufus began to recall the order of answers from then and now. "Quite different…" he was thinking.

Silence.

And AVALANCHE found themselves just staring at Rufus and Rufus staring back at them as if waiting for them to say something else.

But the silence continued on for more minutes… until Rufus said, "…what a crew."

"Gee. I guess Rufus _forgot his lines…_" Tifa thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she struggled to wrap herself up with the bandages again.

"Okay, where is Tifa?" Aerith asked Rufus.

Rufus just smiled calmly at her, "Nothing to worry about, she's in _good hands_." And he turned away. "Just like Midgar at this moment. Now that I am President, it's going to be in good hands too." he said, trying to sound convincing.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Do you want to hear my inauguration speech?" Rufus asked, recalling from before that he cited the speech to AVALANCHE the first time he met them.

No answer.

"Very well, I'll let you hear my inauguration speech." He told them. With that, he began: "…Old Man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working…"

And he stopped.

He forgot his lines.

Tifa tapped him. He brought out his _right hand_ that was wrapped with bandages and held it close to his face as if looking at it. "You work at ShinRa, you get your pay." She told him in a whisper audible enough for only himself to hear.

Rufus wondered how Tifa could have possibly memorized the speech… but he continued nevertheless with her help this time: "You work at ShinRa, you get your pay…" he continued out loud.

"uhm… It looked perfect… on the… inside…" Tifa said softly.

"It looked perfect on the… inside?" Rufus repeated, but he sounded unsure

"Blimey, it's _outside_!" Tifa told him, realizing her mistake.

Rufus's ears turned red. He hated making mistakes… and now Tifa made him look like an idiot in front of her friends. "I meant, _outside_…" he corrected, trying to sound dignified while trying his best to keep his patience.

Silence.

"…uh… I forgot the rest of it." Tifa said sheepishly.

Rufus rolled his eyes.

"Oh! You forgot to approach each and every single one of them!" she told him.

Rufus clenched his left fist, trying his best not to speak to her so that they wouldn't become suspicious. He recalled from before that he approached AVALANCHE while citing his speech. Coolly, he turned around to face AVALANCHE once more with a faint smile on his face. "…whatever. I'll just say whatever comes out from my mind…" he thought to himself before saying, "But I'll do things differently. I'll control the world with…"

"DON'T SAY _FEAR_!" Tifa told him.

Silence.

"What happened to your hand?" Aerith asked, noticing that he has been staring at it for quite some time already.

Silence.

Rufus cleared his throat. "Alright. I'll go straight to business…" he approached Aerith with a cold look on his face as he shoved Tifa back inside the pocket of his blazer. "I want you to give me your ribbon." He told her.

Aerith and the rest of AVALANCHE were surprised upon the command.

"Say what?" Barret asked in confusion.

"What do you need it for?" Aerith asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Tifa's asking for it too. What's going on?" Cloud asked, eyeing Rufus suspiciously.

"Damn, I knew it! That foo' Tifa's been workin' wit dis foo' all along!" Barret told them while eyeing Rufus with an angered look on his face.

"I'm giving you a deal: give me your ribbon and I'll stop all activities regarding the reactors and I shall cooperate with you." Rufus said, ignoring what Barret had declared.

Aerith shook her head and took a step away from Rufus. "No! Why should I?" she asked, thinking that if she gave it away, Rufus might have another bad plan with it.

"What are you going to do with the ribbon?" Cloud asked Rufus.

"Surely you wouldn't tie your hair with it?" Aerith asked, looking suspiciously at Rufus.

"No. I just need it. I cannot tell you the reason but if you do not give that ribbon to me, you will never ever see Tifa again!" Rufus told them.

"Bad move, Rufus." Tifa thought to himself.

Silence.

"What have you done to Tifa?" Aerith asked with a confused look on her face.

Rufus was beginning to lose his temper. "Just give me the bloody ribbon and you can leave!" he told them harshly through his clenched jaw.

Cloud stepped forward in between Aerith and Rufus, facing him with a serious look on his face. "You don't talk to Aerith that way." He told him with a threatening but serious tone.

Rufus narrowed his eyes at Cloud. "Oh yes. I forgot. Sorry." He turned to Aerith again. "Miss Gainsborough, would you be a darling and give to me your hair ribbon?" he asked with a rather sarcastic air.

"Blimey! What is he doing?" Tifa was thinking in panic.

"What do you need it for anyway, foo'?" Barret asked.

Red XIII approached Rufus when he wasn't looking and began sniffing his right hand that was inside his pocket. Red XIII was taken aback and he moved away. "Tifa!" he exclaimed.

"Huh?" Barret, Cloud and Aerith all turned to him.

Silence.

"I can smell Tifa in his clothes… and on him… all over him…" Red XIII declared.

Silence.

"That sounded wrong…" Rufus and Tifa were both thinking in disgust.

"Awright, foo' what did you do to Tifa?" Barret demanded, pushing Cloud and Aerith aside and he faced Rufus, his height towering over him.

Rufus looked up at him with a cool expression on his face.

"How do you explain the smell of Tifa all over ya, foo'? What did you do to her?" Barret asked with a threatening look on his face.

"We went to bed together that's why I smell like her." Rufus muttered.

"What?" Aerith gasped.

"But not in the way you're thinking, mind you. I can't move away from her because… she's _attached_ to me." Rufus continued.

Silence.

"So she's somethin' special to you now, eh? Where is she?" Barret asked.

"No she's not. Will you please just give me the ribbon so that Tifa and I can finally have peace of mind?" Rufus said.

"Not until you tell us where Tifa is, foo'!" Barret shoved him.

Rufus almost fell backwards but he was able to maintain his balance. "Tifa, I'm losing my temper…" he muttered to her as he brought out his hand again.

"Whatever you do, don't give in! You're gonna get into trouble if you do. Remember I'm still your hand!" she told him.

Rufus frowned, his facial expression stiffening as he turned back to Barret. "It looks like you're initiating a battle with me?" he asked.

"Well damn right, we are! We're not leaving without a fair fight!" Barret told him as he shoved Cloud forward, as if telling him to fight Rufus.

"What for? There's nothing to argue about?" Rufus told him, trying to sound innocent.

"I don't think it's fair for him because his right hand is injured." Aerith told Cloud.

Cloud looked at Rufus's right hand suspiciously, then he looked at Rufus's facial expression. Cloud wondered why Rufus's eyes seemed to give him the impression that he's feeling restless regarding the situation. "Or maybe he's afraid to fight me?" he thought to himself.

Rufus studied the looks on their faces before shrugging. "Well I guess we won't become friends…" he said rather coldly before he turned away from them and signaled for the chopper to come down and bring out its ladder to him.

Cloud ran after him, ready to attack from behind. He did not listen to Aerith even when she told him not to.

Rufus could sense Cloud from behind him and he turned around to face him again with a serious look on his face, this time, he brought out his bandaged right hand and pointed it towards Cloud.

Cloud stopped in his tracks, staring at Rufus and his "injured" hand.

"Take another step and I'll make sure Tifa gets hurt. I'm warning you, Cloud Strife. You hurt me and you hurt her too." Rufus warned with a threatening look on his face.

Barret, Aerith, Cloud and Red XIII were not sure what Rufus had meant by that but they knew they could not attack further.

Rufus used his left hand to get some keys from his pocket and he approached Cloud Strife again. "I mean no harm to you or to your party… but for now I won't stop SOLDIER from chasing you." He handed the keys to him discreetly. Cloud frowned, wondering what was going on in Rufus's mind.

"Garage." Rufus murmured before moving away from him in a swift but graceful motion and headed back to the chopper.

Cloud stared at the keys on his hand as the others watched Rufus hold onto the ladder with his left hand. They were quiet as the chopper further ascended into the dark skies of Midgar and disappeared into the clouds.

Cloud turned back to Aerith, Barret and Red XIII with a concerned look on his face.

"What did he tell you?" Aerith asked with a worried look on her face.

Cloud motioned for them to run. "Let's get out of here. Fast." He instructed.

oOoOo

"Where to, sir?" the pilot asked.

Rufus's thoughts were interrupted by the question. "…Junon." He decided. Then he turned to his bandaged "hand", unwound the bandages a little and looked at Tifa. He took this as an opportunity because he was the only one in the backseat of the chopper and the others were seated in the front.

But she was not even looking at him. She had a miserable look on her face as she sighed heavily.

He sighed too, leaning his head back on the back rest of his seat as he gazed outside. "What to do… what to do…" he was thinking to himself. He reflected upon tactics on how he could somehow get the ribbon from Aerith's hair and how he could return Tifa to AVALANCHE without anybody suspecting that they were really together once she separates from him. He began to think about what he was going to do with himself and what his father had left behind for him.

"Didn't you swear to be little bit nicer now?" his conscience was nagging him.

And speaking of his father…

Rufus reached for his left blazer pocket to check for his mobile phone, but he felt crumpled paper inside instead. He frowned as he slowly pulled it out, revealing to himself and to Tifa the crumpled letter from his father.

Rufus could recall what was written there and he could not help but feel angry at himself. Tifa looked up at him when he did not know it. His lips curled into a scornful pout as his blue eyes glistened slightly in tears that he was trying his best to prevent from falling. Tifa just observed the hurtful look on his face, surprised upon his sudden display of vulnerability when he thought nobody was looking.

As soon as they arrived in Junon, Rufus went straight to his office in the ShinRa HQ there, sat down on his chair facing his computer with the crumpled paper still within his clenched left fist. He loosened his grip on the crumpled letter and just placed it on his table with a cold look on his face, but his eyes still expressed too much sadness and disappointment.

Tifa felt her heart sink. She could feel his misery and her hands suddenly felt cold. She smiled bitterly at him. "It's alright to cry, Rufus. I won't tell anyone..." She began.

Rufus swallowed a choke as he looked at the crumpled paper on his desk.

"I promise…" he heard her continue.

He breathed in. "Don't make promises you don't intend to keep." He muttered stiffly as he still stubbornly tried to prevent his tears from falling. But he was unsuccessful. He just covered his face with his left hand, trying his best to stifle his sob.

She just bowed down her head. "But I do." She said softly.

She listened to his soft cries. She was glad he finally gave in, but she was still worried about what's going on in his mind. "You loved your father." She told him softly.

He did not respond and he just wiped his tears away. He removed his hand from his face and just stared into empty space. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "He was a bastard… but my mother loved him." He muttered with a stiff tone.

They were quiet for a while. Tifa knew that Rufus just doesn't want to admit how he really feels inside so she just kept her thoughts to herself. After all, he just lost his father.

"What about you?" he asked stiffly.

Tifa looked up at him. "Huh?" she responded in wonder.

"Where's your father?" he asked, wanting to maneuver the subject from his father to her father. At least he could forget about his own father for a while by focusing on Tifa's life. He had been thinking that he should care to get to know Tifa a little more better since they are going to be stuck together for quite a while… and he would like to start with her family background.

"…he's… dead." She responded softly.

"Really? How did he die?" he asked.

"He… got killed." she did not specify anymore who did it and when it happened.

"Just like mine." Rufus realized, sighing heavily before switching on his PC.

Tifa wondered why he suddenly switched on his PC.

"Well, back to work. I have to rewrite my inauguration speech." Rufus told her as he waited for his PC to boot.

Tifa was just quiet. Rufus could not face his fears so he just runs away from them by immersing himself in work, she realized.

"Where were you born?" he asked.

She was surprised with his question. "…Nibelheim." She replied.

"Birthday?" he asked.

"…May 3." She replied, wondering what he was up to. "And you?" she asked, deeming it unfair for him to be knowing a lot of things about her but she does not know a lot about him.

Rufus smiled slightly at her eagerness to keep the conversation going. "My mother was from Nibelheim. I was born here in Junon. January 15. I'm as old as Cloud… but I'm older by seven months." He explained.

She was quiet for a while, recalling that Cloud, from where she and Rufus came from, is already dead. She just smiled bitterly. "Well… I'm 22." She said. "But where we are right now is like, two years prior to where we come from." She continued.

"…so that makes you 20 here and I'm back to being 21." He said as he began to type with his left hand. "This is going to take a while… typing with one hand…" he muttered miserably. But he went on with his typing.

"But we're still 23 and 22, right?" she asked, blinking.

"Well yes. But since we're here, we don't tell people we're 23 and 22. We tell them that we're 21 and 20." He pointed out.

She thought for a while, "Oh, alright." She said, getting his point.

She watched him as he typed his speech. "You like to make speeches just like your father, huh?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"I'm better." He said proudly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hmf. Really now?" she asked, meaning to tease him.

"Are you challenging me?" he demanded with an impatient look on his face.

She giggled. "Tell me why you gave the keys to Cloud." She told him.

He stopped typing and looked at her.

She just looked up at him with her wide brown eyes while he stared back at her coldly. But she was unaffected by this. He looked at the monitor. "Silly. You're attached to my hand. I couldn't have given it to you." He told her. And he smiled slightly.

She blinked and looked away for a while, thinking things through before looking up at Rufus again. "Why did you give me the keys back then?" she asked softly.

_"Old Man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working…"_ _Rufus cited as he approached Tifa and he discreetly handed her some keys to some sort of vehicles. _

_Tifa__ wondered why. They did not even know each other. But before she could react, she stifled herself as he moved away from her and made his way to Aerith._

Rufus began to type again. "Because I'm not as mean as you thought I was." He told her simply.

She was quiet, feeling guilty upon her former thoughts that she hated ShinRa and everything involved in it. Now that she's with Rufus, she was beginning to feel that he isn't whom she had thought he was. He was beginning to seem different from what other people had told her about him and from what she had observed on him from before.

"Well… I do hope that this could be a beginning of something wonderful for both of us if we're going to become friends…" Tifa decided to herself.

Rufus just continued to type. "Whoever said we're going to become friends?" he asked harshly.

She just frowned at him, crossing her arms. "Well then I hope you did not intend to have those keys thrown in the gas chamber to torture me before I could escape!" she said sarcastically before turning her gaze away from him, her lips forming an annoyed pout.

Rufus just kept on typing in silence, refusing to tell Tifa about the keys that were thrown to her in the gas chamber but were beyond her reach so she had to pull them towards her with her feet…

But he was smiling slyly.

oOoOo

to be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

Chapter Five

oOoOo

The day of Rufus's inauguration as President finally arrived. It was a little late, around a week after his father died, because Rufus's staff kept on insisting to have his right hand checked before the inauguration so that he would look more presentable without the bandages. However, he kept on refusing for a reason that his executives and staff could not understand: "I'm practically fine. It's just some allergy." And when asked what is it that makes him allergic, he answered, "You people." And then walked away.

It was near noon, and Rufus was in his room seated by his dresser with his eyes closed since he was waiting for Tifa to get dressed. "Are you done yet? I have to see what you're wearing." He told her.

"Just a moment…" Tifa was buttoning her blouse. When she was done, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled, pleased with herself. "The new doll clothes you had custom-made for me are lovely. Thank you, Rufus." She said sweetly.

Rufus opened his eyes and looked at her. "Ugh! Why are you wearing black?" he reacted.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Take that off and put on this white dress!" he grabbed a white blouse from the pile of doll clothes. "I didn't pay a dressmaker a good deal of money to have this white blouse wasted." He told her with a frown on his face.

"But I like this better." She told him.

"Today is my inauguration. That blouse is for casual purposes. I want you to look formal for this formal occasion! And since I'm wearing white…" he began.

"Oh no. Why should you bother about what I'm wearing in the first place if I'll just be wrapped up in bandages and stuffed inside the pocket of your blazer?" she asked airily.

"Because I said so. Today's my special day and I don't want anybody looking like a slob." He said.

"Well Scarlet looks like a slob today when I saw her during breakfast…" Tifa began with a slight pout as she signaled for Rufus to close his eyes before she started to unbutton her black blouse.

"That's funny." Rufus said, chuckling.

Tifa was surprised at him. "You're actually laughing? You find that funny?" she asked.

"Why? It's not like today's the first time you heard me laugh." He told her.

"But you're laughing at Scarlet…" she said as she began to put on the white dress.

Rufus kept his eyes closed but his smile faded away. "Honestly, Tifa. I thought of the same thing too when I saw her today." He revealed.

She blinked. "Really?" she asked. He nodded. She shrugged, "Well then you should've told her to change her clothes." She instructed.

"That won't work. She wears the same color… which is red; and her other clothes are… what's the word?" he lost track of his thoughts.

"_Sluttier_" Tifa pointed out.

"Oh right. That's it." He told her.

She sighed heavily, looking at herself in the mirror as she ran her fingers through her hair. "All done." She said.

Rufus opened his eyes and looked at her.

"So what do you think?" she asked happily as she smiled at herself in the mirror.

He just gaped at her.

She turned to him with a curious look on her face, "Are you alright, Rufus?" she asked.

Rufus snapped back into his senses and nodded his head frantically before he got up and got the bandages. "It's almost time." He said as he began to wrap the bandages loosely around her.

Tifa was quite frustrated that he did not even remark whether she looked pretty or not in that dress but she just kept quiet.

Just as he was about to finish wrapping the bandages around his "right hand", he heard someone knocking on his door. "What?" he called out.

The door opened and there was Tseng. "Sir, General Heidegger is asking if you're all set." He asked.

Rufus turned to him. "Yes I am. I'll be in the podium in 10 minutes." He said with a serious look on his face.

Tseng could not help but stare at Rufus's bandaged right hand.

Rufus frowned at him. "What are you staring at?" he demanded.

Tseng shook his head. "N…nothing, sir." And just stepped out.

"Rufus, just be careful not to let anybody snatch your _right hand_ without your consent." Tifa muttered to him.

"Don't worry, I won't…" Rufus said with a low tone. He did not actually like it when people are suspicious of him, but what can he do? He couldn't chop her off from himself! Clearing his throat, he asked, "Alright, what's the agenda for today?"

"Aerith, Cloud, Barret and Red XIII are supposed to be here. Since this day of inauguration took longer than expected compared to what happened in the past… well, I guess they're just hanging around here in Junon… somewhere here. But later on, they'll be dressed in SOLDIER uniforms if I'm not mistaken." She explained.

"How do we know which is Aerith?" he asked.

"Uhm… I don't know. Look for the SOLDIER with… the big butt?" she asked, feeling embarrassed.

Rufus was surprised at her. "I beg your pardon? Do you want me to look like a pervert?" he demanded.

"Hey, I once wore that uniform as a disguise too! It doesn't conceal a woman's assets, if you know what I mean…" she began.

He smiled slyly when he knew Tifa was not looking because her face was covered with the bandages already. "Oh so I wasn't mistaken when I saw one of the SOLDIERs before and she had an unusually large chest. That must've been you, Tifa!" he said brightly with a mocking tone.

"BLIMEY! You're lucky I'm small right now and couldn't hit you!" she snapped in embarrassment.

He was fighting the urge to laugh and smile further. "Alright, alright." He gently shoved her inside his right blazer pocket. "And Cloud is the one marching with my float, right?" he asked.

"Yes. The one who couldn't follow the pattern and the steps." Tifa said, giggling.

"And Barret's wearing the uniform of the ShinRa Marines…" he continued.

"And Red's wearing the SOLDIER uniform too." she added.

Silence.

"How is that possible?" Rufus demanded in awe.

"Maybe some SOLDIERs really look like a bunch of dogs that's why nobody noticed when we boarded the ship before." Tifa said.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Alright. And then Sephiroth's going to be on the ship with us later on… but where will he be?" he asked.

"I was not aware that he was there." She replied.

"Looks like we have to be more aware later on…" he muttered before he took one last look at himself in the mirror, ran his fingers through his gelled-back strawberry blonde hair and then walked out of the room. "And then we'll grab Aerith's ribbon." He said.

"…right." She said mindlessly, although she was thinking that it would still be impossible.

oOoOo

Tifa could feel Rufus stepping up onto the podium. She could not sense any nervousness from him. Truth be told, she has no idea what his speech was all about, but he was able to memorize everything in one sitting, a day after he composed it in his PC. "I'll bet it's the usual _Old man tried to control the world with money_ blah blah thing…" she was thinking with a disappointed look on her face. The moment she accepted the reality that she was attached to him, she also made it a point to put an effort in changing Rufus's mind about everything negative that he would be planning to do to the Planet and to its people… and to put an effort in befriending him and then prove to herself that he is not what everyone thought he was.

But still, she's not sure whether she has been successful in the past many days that they had been together. After all, he made it clear to her that he has no intention of becoming friends with her. "Maybe he's just being 'nice' because I'm attached to him and he could not do anything about it…" she thought.

She could still hear Rufus's Welcoming Ceremony being played, but it soon ceased. "Ugh. That song's really stuck in my head now…" she thought in disdain.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us welcome our new President, Rufus ShinRa." The announcer said.

Everybody cheered and applauded.

Though both Tifa and Rufus were not sure whether the people were sincere with their cheers or not, they just kept it to themselves. In Tifa's case, she felt bad for Rufus because she knew that a lot of people hate him because of where he came from: ShinRa… and they still cheer for him.

As for Rufus, he realized that before, he did not mind people acting plastically around him… but now it made him feel awful to think that he was not really appreciated by anyone. "…But I have to change things around here so…" he thought to himself, urging himself to continue.

The crowd stopped cheering and applauding. Seemingly scripted.

Rufus wondered if there was a sign behind him that lights up, telling the audience to applaud and cheer whenever it would start blinking or when it would light up. But he did not bother to look. He just began to cite his speech:

"_Father_ tried to control the world with money…"

Tifa's eyes widened. "_Father_?" she thought in shock. He actually used that word to refer to his Old Man! Tifa braced herself for more surprises, knowing that this speech was going to be a lot more different than what he had cited before in front of Cloud and his party.

"It seemed to have worked. You work at ShinRa, you get your pay. It looked perfect on the outside…" Rufus continued.

Silence.

"…My mother—wherever she is right now—once told me never to be like my father. And I'll admit that now." He proceeded.

His executives and the Turks were surprised to hear that.

Tifa began to smile mindlessly upon hearing that. "He did change…" she thought with a pleased smile on her face. She felt relieved.

"I never want to give out the impression that I'm a 'mama's boy', but I guess I was just a good son." Rufus said, smiling slightly. The crowd chuckled.

"He has a sense of humor after all…" Tifa realized silently.

"I was born here in Junon. Raised in Midgar. Flies back and forth from Midgar to Junon. Sometimes to Nibelheim—my mother's homeland. And in those travels, I would always see the works that my father had inflicted everywhere. Whatever a powerful and influential man has sowed upon the Planet can be seen everywhere. And ShinRa is a proof of that." Rufus began.

He scanned the crowd. Everyone was listening attentively and they were all looking at him in awe. His smile faded away and he lowered his gaze slightly. "My father sent me here to Junon when I became the Vice-President six years ago when I decided to speak out my mind regarding how I wanted things to change. What brought about the situation? He asked for my opinion about what should be done because the masses were starting to revolt." He looked at the audience again. "My response was that, military force is the answer to settle things. Plain and simple."

He waited for a reaction. Nobody moved. He wondered if they were even listening. But he still continued, "My father obviously did not agree with that. So he sent me to here in Junon; probably because this is where the main military base of ShinRa is located. And in my six-year stay here in Junon where I learned more military tactics while observing from afar the activities that my father had done in the ShinRa headquarters in Midgar, I realized how… how I had the opportunity to… to be different from him."

Tifa frowned slightly, sensing that Rufus was beginning to forget his lines… "Oh no…" she thought.

Rufus felt uncomfortable. He had spotted Aerith and Cloud in the crowd. They were wearing the SOLDIER uniforms as Tifa had described. He lost his words. Distracted. "Go on, Rufus… you can get the ribbon later on…" he was telling himself in silence.

"Rufus," Tifa patted his wrist.

Rufus swallowed hard, keeping a poker-faced expression on his face. With that, he just continued with whatever comes out from his mind: "I've seen how people suffered; how he has exploited the Planetary resources… and several other negativities. And I'm sure everybody has heard of that… including the deaths of innocent people and the people who were only trying to work for a good cause." He smiled slightly. "Because of this, I have decided to do things differently."

People braced themselves.

Rufus swallowed hard. "Go ahead. One of your main objectives for going back to this horrible past is to change things… so do it!" he instructed himself silently before repeating, "I'll do things differently."

Rufus stopped for a while, his mind filled with memories from the future where he and Tifa came from… the children, Geostigma, Kadaj, Sephiroth, deaths…

He closed his eyes for a while, hoping that those memories would go away. He did not want to have Geostigma anymore if ever he returns back to the future. He has to change things…

Rufus ShinRa opened his eyes and bowed down his head. He did not want to sound like an empty-headed politician saying out promises on what to do for the people in the future, so he just decided to keep quiet. After all, he has already mapped-out a plan on how he could make a difference… starting out with the discontinued use for the Mako reactors. "People will know eventually of what I am planning to do. They'll understand. And they'll come to realize that I'm different…" he thought to himself before saying out loud, "Thank you and have a good day ahead of you." And instantly turned away from the people, his facial expression stoic but his blue eyes giving off an uncomfortable look as he got down from the podium. Nobody applauded or cheered even as he got down from the stage. His welcoming march began to play again and everybody began to talk about him, wondering what's on his mind.

While being escorted to the ship, Rufus kept on looking behind him, checking on the SOLDIERs who were following after him. Before boarding, he stopped to face them.

"Gyahah. Sir, would you like to see an exhibition?" Heidegger presented.

Rufus blinked. "Oh, with their rifles?" he asked, recalling from before that the SOLDIERs had rehearsed a routine with their rifles. "…Alright. Enlighten me." Rufus said, bracing himself, although he was thinking, "Let's see where Cloud is…"

The SOLDIERs began to do the exhibition.

"Alright. One. Two. Three…"

Rufus was not even paying attention whether anybody else was making a mistake or not… because he has already spotted Cloud Strife.

Cloud, on the other hand, felt nervous. Rufus seemed to be looking through his helmet. Well he is, but Cloud thought that the disguise was really fit for him and that nobody else would recognize him except for Aerith, Barret and Red XIII. Cloud also noticed that Rufus's right hand was still in his pocket. "I wonder what really happened to that hand of his…" he thought.

Heidegger kept on looking at Rufus, then back to the SOLDIERs again, wondering if the activity was making any sense to the President. Heidegger was not the only one to notice that Rufus had been more distant from them than ever… and that he seemed to be more dazed. Sometimes, they would hear him _talking to himself_… something which they had never experienced from him before. And then sometimes when they would pass by his room, they would hear him talking to someone. A woman. But her voice would usually be soft and not as loud as Rufus's. Since then they had suspected that he has a secret girlfriend that he does not want the world to know about. But why? Probably because she is not from the upper society like him? Probably because she is a rebel? Probably because she is horrible-looking? There are several theories that had been formulated by the executives and even the Turks, only them, because they were the ones who were almost always around him. And what's with those doll's clothes that Rufus had asked them to buy and order from dressmakers? And the bandages around his right hand? What really happened to his right hand anyway, they would wonder.

When the exhibition was finished, Rufus turned to Heidegger. "Give them a prize." He commanded.

"…Gyah. What kind of prize, sir?" Heidegger asked.

"I am pleased with their performance. Give them something good… and increase their salaries." Rufus pointed out. "Yep. This is a good way to start with the '_I'll do things differently'_ crap I'm trying to implement…" he was thinking to himself silently.

The SOLDIERs were surprised at him.

"And I want you to give a call to Midgar and tell the engineers to stop all the activities for the Mako Reactors. I want those reactors to have their purpose changed. And tell our scientists to search for alternatives for Mako. Tell them to look for new energy sources to substitute for Mako as electricity. And make sure that those reactors are working properly and not causing pollution whatsoever." Rufus instructed sternly.

"Gyah…" Heidegger was speechless.

"Do you understand?" Rufus demanded harshly, feeling impatient.

"Gyah! Sir, yes, sir! Gyahahahah…" Heidegger laughed uncomfortably.

"Go now. This ship will not wait for you. I'll expect you to be back here in 15 minutes!" Rufus instructed.

"Gyah! But the telephones are far from here! It's in the base!" Heidegger said.

"Then run fast." Rufus said, flipping his hair with his left hand. "Or better yet, use a mobile phone or a payphone. Don't you have money?" he asked airily.

"Well… gyahahah… yes sir. Gyahahaah." Heidegger laughed uncomfortably.

"And stop that stupid horse laugh. It's annoying." Rufus snapped before turning away from him. "Gods. I missed saying that…" he muttered to himself with a slight smile on his face before stepping into the ship. "Hurry up. I don't have all day. I have to be in Costa del Sol." He announced.

"Gyah! Yessir!" Heidegger instantly ran off

The other SOLDIERs followed after Rufus inside the ship and went to their respective posts.

Cloud met up with Aerith by the deck. "Did you hear that?" Cloud asked her in disbelief.

"I did. I was there too." she responded.

"What's up with Rufus?" he asked in confusion.

She shrugged.

The two were unaware that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the Captain's Deck above. "Look at them. They're so lovely together." Tifa said dreamily.

"I thought you didn't like Aerith because she gets in your way to Cloud?" Rufus asked numbly.

"Who told you that?" she asked in shock.

"A little birdie." He answered playfully.

She just rolled her eyes. "That was before, Rufus. You think I'd be wearing the pink ribbon if I hated Aerith? We actually wore that in her memory." She told him.

"And speaking of pink ribbons… we have to get it now." He told her.

"Like, how?" Tifa asked.

Rufus turned around, checking if anybody had arrived. It was still the two of them inside the Captain's Deck. "I can ask the real SOLDIERs to seize her." He decided before turning back his attention to Aerith and Cloud who were still conversing on the lower deck.

"You can't do that!" she wailed.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It's mean!" she said.

"It's for a reason, Tifa." He told her.

"But… poor Aerith! Did you know that she has spent almost her entire life getting captured and then trying to run away from you ShinRas?" she asked in exasperation.

"Of course I know. But I wasn't the one who wanted her to be experimented upon. This time, she'll get captured and then released immediately once we get the ribbon on her hair." He pointed out.

"She doesn't even want to give it up." She muttered before sighing. "Besides, we have another person to worry about in this ship…" she began.

He frowned. "You're right. Sephiroth could be here now…" he said.

"Why do you want to go to Costa del Sol anyway?" she asked.

"I actually don't know why I have to go there right now…" he muttered.

Silence.

"Well what was the reason why you went there before?" she asked.

"I was searching for the Promised Land. I wanted to beat my father into finding it. He was not able to find it so I thought maybe I could. Now I know how absurd it is based from what I have learned from where we came from in the future…" he explained.

"Oooh. And Sephiroth's also looking for it, right?" she asked.

"That, I am not sure of right now." He replied.

"Rufus, you don't have to go to Costa del Sol right now. You don't have to faithfully follow the patterns and activities that you have done in the past. After all, you're here to change things, right?" she asked.

"And you're here to change things too." he pointed out.

"Maybe I'm just here to help you out." She said.

"You're in denial. You might want to change something… like kill Aerith, perhaps, so that Cloud can be yours? And if Aerith dies in the hands of Sephiroth later on, you can confess to Cloud that you love him so that he can be yours. I think that's what you want to do." He said with a malicious look on his face.

"What do you know about what I want to do? And do you even think I can tell Cloud, if ever I do love him right now, that I love him at this size?" she demanded in annoyance. "And I won't let Aerith die. If ever I am here for a purpose, I have thought about it. And I'm supposed to make sacrifices for myself." She muttered, crossing her arms with a sad look on her face.

He was quiet for a while before saying, "And that is?"

"…I'm doing this for Cloud. So that he can finally be happy." She sighed heavily as she looked at Cloud and Aerith again. "I've seen him once in the Church when I secretly went there for a visit. He did not know it, but I was there, watching him. He looked so miserable. And I watched him sleeping… I heard him… say her name in his sleep. I felt bad for him. And at that moment, I wished I could do something for him… like, bring Aerith back? But… I can't. And now that I'm here…" she swallowed hard and smiled gently. "I don't think I'd like anything bad happening to Aerith." She said softly.

Rufus just looked at Tifa. He was not sure what was going on in that little head of hers, but he just tried to understand. He turned his gaze back to Cloud and Aerith. "I know of his… pain." He said softly.

She looked up at him in surprise.

He had this hard look on his face but his eyes expressed pity on Cloud as he looked at him. "…he told me a part of it."

They were quiet, contemplating on their own thoughts and what they had just revealed to each other. Then, Rufus bowed down his head and turned away. "You're right, Tifa. We don't need to go to Costa del Sol right now. Let's just go back to HQ, have a quick lunch and proceed with my other plans." He said, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard someone speak from behind him as he was on his way to the stairs, "Rufus,"

Tifa felt the blood drain from her face when she recognized the voice… and to think she was completely exposed as Rufus's right hand! She and Rufus had completely forgotten about the bandages.

Rufus turned around to face Sephiroth in surprise. "You…you're here!" he said coolly.

Sephiroth was about to say something else but he saw Rufus's right hand… and he was shocked.

Rufus noticed where he was looking and his own blue eyes widened before shoving Tifa inside his pocket again. "Yes? Is there a problem?" he asked, trying to sound cool.

Sephiroth approached him and grabbed his right hand. "What is this?" he demanded, staring at Tifa in shock.

"It's my hand, not let go of it." Rufus said, struggling to pull it away from him, but Sephiroth's grip tightened around it. "There's a girl attached to your hand! Can't you see it?" Sephiroth demanded.

Rufus thought for a while before replying, "Gee, you're really insane. I don't see any hand."

Sephiroth backed away, releasing Rufus. His own hands felt clammy. "No… I'm really losing it now…" he thought in disdain.

"Rufus, I think you should tell him the truth or else he'll go crazier and might end up destroying everything now!" she warned Rufus with a nervous look on her face.

Rufus approached Sephiroth, "Alright, alright. You're not further losing it. It's… a long story but I can't explain it right now." He said.

Sephiroth turned to face him with a confused look on his face.

Rufus saw the look in his eyes and frowned slightly, "You need counseling." He pointed out.

"Nobody can help me! Everybody lied to me! And you lied to me too! With that hand!" Sephiroth said with a demented look on his face.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down! You wouldn't want anybody to hear that you're here!" Rufus told him as he went to him, trying to calm him down. "And I'm sorry if I kind of lied right now. I just don't want anybody else knowing that there's a girl attached to my right wrist!" Rufus apologized with an uncomfortable look on his face.

Silence.

Sephiroth smiled maliciously. "Gee, I kinda envy you." He said.

Rufus and Tifa raised their eyebrows at him. "Okay, I know what's on your mind. You're thinking of dirty thoughts again…" he began.

"Mwahah!" Sephiroth just laughed at him.

Silence.

"Can we talk?" Rufus asked.

Sephiroth's smile faded and he stared at Rufus with a blank look on his face and then turned his gaze to Tifa, then back to Rufus again. "…No." he replied.

"Why not?" Rufus reacted, surprised at Sephiroth's unpredictability.

"You expect me to trust you now?" Sephiroth demanded in exasperation.

"Look, I know what you're thinking right now. You think that you cannot trust anybody anymore because of the lies that Hojo told you before!" Tifa pointed out, butting-in to the conversation between Rufus and Sephiroth.

Sephiroth's left eye twitched as he looked at her. "What do you know?" he sneered.

"Hojo told you that JENOVA's your mother but then you found out who she really is, you went crazy. You discovered that you're not an ordinary human being and…" Tifa began to cite everything she had discovered from before, but Sephiroth cried out, "Argh! Enough! I hate being reminded of that Hojo!"

"And now you want to destroy everything because of revenge, talk about _lame_!" Tifa snapped.

Rufus swallowed hard, "Uhm… Tifa, I think you'd better stop now. If you provoke him further he might…" he began, but he trailed off when Sephiroth sneered at them, "Leave me alone…" and just turned away with a frustrated look on his face.

"He should be locked up in an asylum, Tifa…" Rufus whispered to her.

Tifa just shook her head. "I think he just needs someone to talk to. Why don't you do it, Rufus?" she asked softly.

Rufus was surprised at her. How could he become concerned with Sephiroth's issues if he still has a lot of issues himself? He took a deep breath. "But you'll help me, won't you?" he told Tifa before approaching Sephiroth again and placed his left hand on his shoulder. "Oh well… here goes. Lucky for me I took up Psychology 101 in college…" he was thinking to himself before telling Sephiroth, "Why don't we discuss this tonight? I'll give you time to think about things… and maybe then we could… talk?" he asked, unsure.

Sephiroth turned to him with a cold look on his face. "About what?" he asked coldly.

Rufus moved away from him and began to wrap the bandages around Tifa again. "…about our plans?" he asked, trying to keep a cool exterior even though he was feeling uncomfortable and unsure about his decision. He walked away from Sephiroth. "I'll be expecting you." He said.

Sephiroth watched as he walked away. "Aren't you looking for the Promised Land? I thought you're leaving for Costa del Sol?" he asked with a hard tone.

"Not anymore." Rufus replied simply as he flipped his hair and finally left, leaving Sephiroth there.

oOoOo

to be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Right Hand of Evil

By generalquistis

Chapter Six

oOoOo

By nine in the evening, Rufus was finished with his new business and marketing plans.

"You sure worked fast today." Tifa said with a pleased look on her face. She had been reading as he was typing and she was impressed by his work. "When are you planning to discuss those with your executives?" she asked.

He smiled slightly. "Not anymore. They'll just reject the ideas and I don't want to hear what they have to say about mine for now. I'll just give these plans to their respective departments. I'm sure Palmer, Heidegger, Scarlet, Reeve and Hojo can read. I wouldn't want any questions from them. Besides, I have instructed in a note in all the documents that I have printed for them that everything that I will say should be implemented immediately." He explained with a proud look on his face before hiding Tifa under his desk and pressed a button. "Urgent material to be delivered to all department heads." He announced.

In a jiffy, Rude, Reno, Elena and Tseng arrived.

Rufus motioned for them to take the sealed big brown envelopes piled on his desk. "And I want the chopper prepared around 9 in the morning tomorrow. I'll be going back to Midgar." He instructed.

"Yes, sir." The four answered before leaving.

Rufus waited until they have fully exited before putting Tifa on the table again. "I thought you're talking to Sephiroth tonight?" she asked.

"I am." He said as he got up to leave his office and proceeded back to his bedroom. "But you didn't specify to him where?" she asked.

"In my room." He told her.

"Your room?" she asked in disbelief.

"Just like before. We always talk in my room." He told her.

Tifa looked at him uncomfortably. "Aren't you afraid of what other people might think?" she asked.

"As long as we're not doing anything bad, I don't care." He told her coolly. "And as far as I'm concerned, he's not a homosexual. Trust me. I've been friends with him for a long time already." He said seriously.

She eyed him.

He glared at her. "And I'm not gay in case that's what you're thinking." He told her.

She shrugged. "I didn't say anything… although I've noticed that you have a lot of facial and skin care and hair products in your bathroom and dresser…" she began with a silly smile on her face, meaning to tease him.

"Haven't you heard of the term _metrosexual_?" he asked airily.

"Of course I know that, Rufus. I'm not that stupid." She said, crossing her arms. "I was just playing with you." She said.

"Well I'm not in the mood for games tonight…" he breathed in. "not now that I'm concerned about our lives…" he muttered.

"You are?" she asked, surprised at him.

"We are going to talk to Sephiroth, right? If I say something wrong that can provoke his crazy mind, he might snap and in one slash with his Masamune, we're both dead." He muttered.

"Oh yes, and don't forget to discourage him from summoning the weapons. Remember what the Diamond Weapon had done to you?" she reminded him.

He shuddered. "Blimey… I'll make sure he changes his mind about his plans…" he muttered s they finally reached his room. He opened the door, stepped inside and switched on the lights.

He wasn't surprised to see Sephiroth seated by his window, waiting with his arms crossed. The Masamune was leaning against the wall beside the window. "Good evening, Sephiroth." Rufus greeted coolly as he shut the door.

Sephiroth stared at him and at Tifa. "I don't know if that's a puppet or not but you still owe me an explanation." He said.

Rufus and Tifa both know that Sephiroth might now understand anything if they tell him that they both came from the future… "To tell you the truth, she is just a puppet and I am her ventriloquist." Rufus told him.

Sephiroth stared at Tifa, then back to Rufus. "At least I can be assured that I'm not really insane?" he asked.

"No you're not. I think you're just misunderstood. And remember, this girl on my hand is just a puppet." Rufus said as he sat down on a couch. "So tell me what's bothering you…" he began.

oOoOo

Tifa and Rufus were surprised themselves that they got Sephiroth to blab about what's bothering him. By the third hour from when he began to talk, Tifa was already beginning to feel sleepy.

Rufus, surprisingly, was still all-ears to Sephiroth. This also surprised him because usually he would have just spaced out and would mind the time. He turned to Tifa to see any reaction from her, but her eyes were already closed. He just decided to let her sleep. By doing so, he and Sephiroth could continue conversing without her even bothering to listen. Maybe then he could open up even more serious topics.

Sephiroth sighed heavily, finishing his last sentence.

Rufus just stared at him.

"Well?" Sephiroth asked.

"But did you start summoning those Weapons already?" Rufus asked.

Silence.

"…yes." Sephiroth said.

Rufus's eyes widened.

"I'm just joking." Sephiroth said with a sly smile on his face.

Rufus stiffened. "You bastard!" he snapped.

"Mwahahah!" Sephiroth just laughed at him.

Silence.

"So what are you planning to do now?" Rufus asked.

"I don't know what got into your head and you decided to talk to me but… thanks." Sephiroth said with a sheepish look on his face, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"What are good friends for?" Rufus asked, shrugging.

"But I killed people… and caused trouble. I even killed your father for crying out loud." Sephiroth told him.

"I won't tell them you're here or where you plan to go." Rufus said. "Tell you what, you can stay in one of my residences in Costa del Sol." He urged.

Sephiroth frowned at him "Are you kidding me? Hojo is currently in Costa del Sol right now." He told him.

Rufus frowned, "Oh. Yes. That second-rate scientist…" he muttered.

Sephiroth clenched his fists. "I want to kill that bastard…" he muttered.

Rufus was about to oblige to his idea, but stopped himself. "He won't be there any longer. I've had things delivered to his lab in Midgar and I expect those plans to be implemented immediately. If he doesn't oblige, he shall be punished." He said.

"Oooh. Can I be the one to punish him?" Sephiroth asked with an evil grin.

Rufus just stared at him with a serious look on his face. "Are you still pursuing the Promised Land?" he asked, not wanting to answer the question.

Sephiroth shook his head. "Nah. I suddenly lost interest, thanks to you." He replied.

Rufus was not sure whether he was being sarcastic or not but he just shrugged it off and told Sephiroth, "Now if you'd be nice enough to do me a favor…" he began.

Sephiroth looked at him. "Shoot." He urged, staring at the "puppet" attached to Rufus's hand. "That sure looks real… like _that girl_ herself." He said.

Rufus just shrugged. "Of course. Only the finest puppets for me." He fibbed, rolling his eyes before proceeding, "I need something from Aerith Gainsborough."

Sephiroth eyed him carefully. "You talked me out of destroying the Planet and now you want the White Materia for yourself?" he demanded in disbelief.

"No, no, you misunderstood. I don't need the White Materia from her. I need the pink ribbon on her hair." Rufus stated flatly.

Sephiroth guffawed. "Mwahahahah!" It was so loud that Tifa woke up. He stopped laughing and pointed at her, "Nice move there, Rufus. Making your puppet wake up. Cool. Can you make it talk again?" he asked.

Silence.

Tifa blinked. "No." she heard Rufus reply. She looked up at him. "What's going on?" she asked him.

Rufus ignored her and kept his eyes on Sephiroth. "I'm serious. I need that ribbon." He said.

"Why?" Sephiroth asked with a ridiculous look on his face. "You can buy that ribbon somewhere else." He pointed out.

"I want… my little puppet here to have a pretty pink ribbon on her hair!" Rufus said, trying to sound pleasant.

Sephiroth thought that Rufus was the one losing it and not him. "I don't think so." He said with a disapproving look on his face.

Rufus eyed him. "I know what you're thinking. You think I'm insane." He pointed out.

"Yes I think so." Sephiroth admitted and he got up. "And for a moment you must've thought you had me fooled! Not this time, ShinRa!" Sephiroth snapped at him.

Rufus just stared at him in disbelief, same with Tifa.

Sephiroth guffawed again. "Damn! I just love your reaction!" he cheered.

Rufus and Tifa breathed out; they though that they would die at the instant Sephiroth got up.

"I was just kidding, Rufus," Sephiroth told him with a reassuring look on his face and pointed at the "puppet". "Interesting. She also reacted. Where'd you get that puppet anyway?" he asked.

"It's from one of my nieces… she's the daughter of a very distant cousin. She left it during one of the family reunions and I decided to keep it." Rufus fibbed.

Sephiroth just nodded. "Anyway, I'll see what I can do about that ribbon without them thinking that I'm out to kill her." He said as he walked to door and stopped in his tracks.

Silence.

"I thought you were leaving?" Rufus asked, perplexed.

"Eh… I forgot that I couldn't pass through there. Otherwise, I'll get caught." Sephiroth muttered.

"Then go through the window." Rufus suggested.

"Can't do that anymore. Can't I just spend the night here? I'll sleep on the floor." Sephiroth said.

Rufus stiffened and eyed Tifa as if searching for an answer in her. She just looked at him like saying "I don't know…" His frown deepened as he turned back to Sephiroth. "Sure. What are friends for?" he said, giving up; figuring that he needed to act extra-nice towards Sephiroth.

Sephiroth smiled at him, pleased. "Thanks, buddy." He said before rushing to the bed and plopped down there. "Aaah." He said in ecstasy.

Rufus stared at him horridly. "Get off my bed!" he snapped.

But Sephiroth has closed his eyes already and was already snoring.

Rufus clenched his jaw. "Blimey! Where are _we_ going to sleep now?" he muttered to Tifa.

She shrugged. "The couch, perhaps?" she asked.

"I'm a ShinRa. I don't sleep on couches." He muttered to her.

"But you can't sleep beside that big man over there. I'd deem it wrong." She told him with a playful tone.

Rufus just stared indifferently at her as he proceeded to the bathroom. "Close your eyes." He muttered.

"Why are we going to the bathroom?" she asked before shutting her eyes.

"I'll change into my sleepwear and then you'll change into yours too before we sleep on the couch." He stated flatly.

oOoOo

The sound of his mobile phone ringing woke him up. Hojo lazily reached for his phone and answered the call, "Who's this?" he answered as he glared at the digital clock resting on his bedside table in the bedroom of his penthouse in Costa del Sol.

"Professor Hojo, an urgent package arrived just tonight here in your lab in Midgar. It's from the President." The voice from the other line told him.

Hojo grunted. "Is it _that_ urgent?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes, sir."

He hung up. "Looks like I have to go back to Midgar immediately…" he muttered miserably to himself as he got off the bed.

Hojo had to pay an expensive price for a ship to take him to Midgar, but it did not seem to bother him because he has enough cash thanks to the late Old Man ShinRa's support to him. By 5 in the morning, he arrived in Midgar and he went straight to the HQ with a cab. As soon as he got to the building, he went straight to his laboratory and walked to his desk, seeing the package. Upon opening it, he sat down and began to read it carefully.

And he did not like what he had read there.

"This kid has no leadership skills." He was thinking to himself before sending the document to the paper shredder and then turned to his PC and switched it on. "Looks like I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands…" he said to himself.

oOoOo

The next day, by 9 in the morning, Rufus was back in Midgar. Since he did not want anybody recognizing Sephiroth, he made him wear a Second Class SOLDIER's uniform and told everyone that he was an intern and he had chosen this "intern" to be his personal bodyguard; and when anybody would ask for Sephiroth's name, he would reply "Valentine."

Sephiroth thought it was a cheesy name-slash-surname but Tifa insisted that he took that name because of the _Lucrecia_ thing with Vincent, and Lucrecia is his real mother. Sephiroth wanted for her to elaborate on Lucrecia but Rufus said that they would not tell him unless he helped them with Aerith's ribbon.

Sephiroth wanted so bad to learn about Lucrecia so he decided to just oblige.

Upon arrival in Midgar, Rufus decided to call for his executives for a meeting. During the meeting, he was taking down notes on a notepad regarding his executives' reports… with his left hand.

The executives were surprised because they did not know that Rufus was ambidextrous.

But he's not.

They just could not see that his handwriting with his left hand looked like a 5 year-old child's scrawl.

Rufus took note of who were there: Reeve, Scarlet, Heidegger and Palmer.

Hojo was missing.

"Where is Hojo?" he asked, interrupting Heidegger's report.

Heidegger exchanged glances with his Scarlet, Reeve and Palmer before turning back to Rufus. "We don't know, sir. He was not in his lab this morning although the receptionist claimed that he has been here ever since dawn." He explained.

Rufus just took a deep breath and impatiently tapped his pen on the table. "Never mind. Go on with your report." He instructed flatly.

oOoOo

Sephiroth reached Sector 7, realizing that the rebuilding process was already starting. "Rufus is going to be pleased to hear about this…" he thought to himself as he continued to walk, patrolling around. "I wonder where Cloud and Aerith are staying right now…" he thought as he stopped walking. He decided to turn back. "Looks like I have to be wandering around in Sector 6… and if I don't find them, I'll search around the Planet." He said to himself with a sly smile on his face before walking off.

oOoOo

"Meeting adjourned." Rufus said with a stiff look on his face.

It was past 1 in the afternoon and the executives thought that the meeting would never end. They could tell that Rufus was not in a good mood because he hardly said anything. It was like he just sat on that meeting that lasted for more than two hours and just listened, paid attention to detail, wrote in his notebook and doodled.

They wondered if his attention span was really _that_ long.

"And tell Hojo that if he doesn't show up on the next meeting tomorrow, I'll be firing him. Make sure he locates a new power source by tomorrow." Rufus commanded with an impatient look on his face as he got up from his seat, took his notes and exited.

Rufus went straight to his office and took a deep breath before unwinding the bandages from his right "hand". "I felt that my right hand had fallen asleep." He said with a slight smile on his face.

She yawned once the bandages were completely off from her face. "Well the meeting was boring. You hardly said anything and you did not even remark on their activities!" she told him.

"Well at least we know that Reeve has begun with the rebuilding of Sector 7. It's going to be a huge project for me. And Scarlet did not push through with her Sister Ray project. She wondered how I knew about it and I said I had spies." Rufus said.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"Because I felt you falling asleep when Scarlet took the floor." He replied as he sat down comfortably on his seat.

Tifa shrugged, smiling at him, "Did the rest of the meeting go well anyway?" she asked.

"So far so good. But Hojo wasn't there. That bastard. I wonder what he's up to…" Rufus was saying before somebody just barged in. He quickly hid his "right hand" under his desk and stared at the intruder with a surprised look on his face. "…Yes, Tseng?" he asked nonchalantly.

Tseng blinked, wondering why Rufus looked surprised. "Sorry for barging in, President Rufus, but I just received some news from Heidegger that you increased our salaries?" he asked.

Rufus was silent for a while before nodding his head. "Yes." He replied simply.

Tseng bowed down to him for gratitude and respect. "Thank you, President Rufus. The other Turks are also extending their gratitude to you." He said gratefully.

Silence.

"It's part of my… improvement project for ShinRa." Rufus told him reassuringly before motioning for him to exit. "Please leave. I'm busy." He instructed with a frown on his face.

Tseng nodded with a pleased smile on his face before leaving the room.

As soon as Tseng shut the door, Reno, Elena and Rude approached him. "So Boss, you saw anyone?" Reno asked curiously.

Tseng shook his head. "But you heard the voice too, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's, like, clearly a girl!" Elena said.

"It's Tifa." Rude told them.

All eyes turned to him. "How do you know it's Tifa?" Tseng asked.

"And who's Tifa?" Elena asked.

Rude just kept quiet.

"We go to the 7th Heaven bar sometimes to have drinks. She's the bartender there. But lately the bar is closed and she's been reported missing by her friends who happen to be members of AVALANCHE." Reno explained casually.

Tseng shrugged. "Well I barged in as planned to surprise them—catch them in the act. But there was no one there. But strangely enough, he placed his right hand underneath his table." He pointed out.

"What? What's he doing?" Elena asked.

"I'm not sure. He's probably holding a phone or something else… but the bandages he used to wrap his injured hand were on the table." Tseng replied.

"Maybe his hand looks hideous. I wonder what really happened to it." She said, thinking about what could have caused Rufus's "hand" problems.

"He said it's caused by an allergy but I don't think I would like to believe him because it's been so long since he got that allergy and there's no proof that he's doing something about it!" Reno told them.

"You're right. And I always hear him talking to a woman _especially_ in his bedroom or whenever he's alone. And I'd catch him sneaking some food from the dinner table and putting it under the table." Elena pointed out.

"He could be giving it to Dark Nation." Tseng said.

"Nope. Dark Nation has her own food and she's always by her bowl eating away from her master." She explained.

Silence.

"And he completely did a complete change on everything here in ShinRa. Increasing our salaries, being _nice_ to employees? That's so… strange. And he's putting up projects to improve the Planet… and he has put a stop to all his dad's previous projects and replaced them with his own!" Reno pointed out.

"Another strange thing is, he didn't announce this to people during his speech. He didn't make promises like other politicians did." Elena said with an amused look on her face.

"The question is, where did he meet that girl and when did he start talking to her?" Tseng asked skeptically with a puzzled look on his face.

"He doesn't have a night life. He doesn't go out. And it's impossible that he went to the slums and met her." Reno explained before his face lit up as an idea flashed into his head. "Hey! Why don't we make him slip out the truth or something?" he asked brightly.

"What?" Elena asked, turning to him.

"Talk about anything under the sun with him and then pop up the question: _Hey Prez! Do you have a girlfriend already?_ Yeah, that should do the trick." He explained with a silly smile on his face.

"As if that will work? Like, President Rufus's brain is well-calculated and he always thinks before he answers!" she protested.

"We haven't tried it yet. Maybe it could work. Elena, you do it." Tseng commanded.

"What? Me?" she cried out in surprise.

"You're the talkative one among us. He would suspect something if it's Rude who just started talking all of a sudden." Tseng urged.

Elena thought for a while before shrugging. "Alright." She said. "But wouldn't it look weird if I just barged in there and started talking? I might piss him off or something," she stated flatly.

"You'll think of something." Reno said, pushing her inside the office again.

Elena looked up at the stairs and breathed in before running up. Once she reached the elevated part of the President's Office where Rufus was staying, she flashed him a happy grin. "Hey, Prez!" she greeted happily.

Rufus was surprised. Elena noticed that he placed his hand under the table again. "Yes, Elena?" Rufus asked, trying to sound casual.

Elena blinked and giggled. "Oh. You know, I'm just here to… uh… thank you personally. You know as Turks we're quite underpaid by your father and oh my gawd, I'm sorry about your dad, it must be hard losing a dad like that but anyway I think I heard somewhere that you don't like your dad or something but anyway, that's sad because you're his only son and you hated him or something but oh well whatever don't mind me I just heard about it and it's just plain gossip I guess because you don't seem to be a mean person like what other people think and you know what when I heard about bad stuff being whispered by mean people during your inauguration in Junon I wanted to prove them wrong because they just don't see the big picture that you're a nice man after all and you're the best President ShinRa and this city could ever have! Heehee!"

Rufus and Tifa were stunned. "…Oh." Was all he could respond.

Tifa pursed her lips, rolling her eyes. "She really talks too much!" she thought to herself as Rufus kept her hidden under the table, resting her on his lap.

Elena realized what she had done and she felt sheepish. "Like, oh my gawd! Did I do it again? Like, you know, talk too much? Like, oh my gawd, please don't tell Boss Tseng because he'll get mad and don't let Reno know because he'll tease me to death and when he teases me he really bugs me because you know he really likes to bug me and I don't know why but probably because I'm a girl and he's a male chauvinist pig and maybe because I'm a newbie too and he never leaves me alone sometimes like he constantly annoys me like I'm the only '_annoyable_' person in this building like hey why can't he annoy Tseng or Rude instead or even Scarlet? Like, oh my gawd…" she stopped herself.

Rufus looked down to Tifa as if asking "What am I going to say?" but she just shrugged and mouthed, "Whatever!" With that, he turned back to Elena with a slight smile on his face. "Well… maybe Reno likes you? That's why he likes to annoy you?" he asked.

Silence.

"I don't know if this is the right time to react but I think it's a good opportunity to manipulate the situation…" Elena was thinking to herself. "Like, ew? Why would he even like me?" she asked, flipping her hair and sitting down on the new couch facing Rufus's desk. "Gee, cool couch! Now this office looks more accommodating compared to the time when your dad was here! Teehee!" she said happily.

Rufus blinked. "Well… sometimes boys do that… they make fun of the girls… but really, they like girls. Or something like that. It's human psychology." He told her rather uncomfortably.

"What about you, sir, do you do that?" Elena asked.

"What is wrong with her?" both Rufus and Tifa were thinking to themselves.

"It's none of your business." Rufus replied simply.

Silence.

"You're really the coolest President around here, sir." Elena said, losing track of the situation all of a sudden.

"I _am_ the _only_ President around here, Elena." Rufus pointed out with a cold look on his face.

"I mean, you're so cool that you changed everything here. Are you inspired or something?" she asked.

"What do you mean, _inspired_?" he asked with a frown on his face.

"By a girl or something?" she pointed out directly. She clearly noticed his jaw clench.

Tifa bit her lower lip, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"What?" Rufus asked. Elena and Tifa clearly heard that he choked on his reply but he just swallowed hard.

"Like, you know, you have a girlfriend or something?" Elena asked happily as she got up from the couch.

"Girlfriend?" Rufus asked.

"Good. I've caught him off-guard!" Elena thought victoriously before proceeding to elaborate, "Heehee! Don't worry sir, you can tell me everything! I know I'm talkative and all but I can keep secrets! Teehee! Do you have a girlfriend? Coz you know if you have one but you're hiding her or something, well I think there's nothing to hide about because your dad's gone and even if she's not from your caste no one would mind! I wouldn't! We Turks won't mind! In fact we can help you too! Teehee!" she giggled.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Rufus replied sternly. But he could feel the blood rushing up to his face. Tifa felt him getting warmer and she looked up at him. Her jaw dropped and she gasped slightly, "Blimey! Don't blush!" she whispered softly in a voice audible enough for only herself to hear.

But he did.

Elena raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Okay. Sorry if I bothered you, sir. But in case you want someone to talk to, we Turks are just here." She said happily before leaving.

As soon as Rufus heard the door from the lower part of the 70th floor close, he leaned back on his seat, breathing out in shock. "Blimey! I thought I'd die! They're suspecting something, Tifa!" he told her.

"Why? I'm not your girlfriend, am I?" she asked innocently, wondering why Rufus was suddenly bothered so much by the situation.

"Well maybe they think you are because maybe they heard me talking to you and they even heard your voice." He replied through a clenched jaw.

She just laughed at him, "Why should you even be bothered by something that isn't true?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

He listened to her laughter and just shook his head. "I just don't like… the people to think about wrong things about me." He said before he got up. "Now let's have lunch. I'm famished." He told her.

oOoOo

After hearing Elena's report on the incident, the other Turks were stunned.

"This is the first time he has ever blushed when that question was asked of him. It means it's true. He has a girlfriend!" Tseng formulated.

"Whaddya mean?" Elena asked in surprise.

"When his father was still alive, his father's friends would ask Rufus if he has a girlfriend already. Rufus would angrily say no like it's the most offensive question anyone could ever ask him." Tseng pointed out.

"Oh yeaaah! I remember during one of his birthday parties that his dad had arranged for him, there were a bunch of old men… probably his dad's friends… and they asked him if he has a girlfriend and if he has bed her already and stuff like that. Rufus was really ticked-off by the question." Reno said with a silly smile on his face.

Rude was just quiet, listening to them.

"Okay so what are we going to do about his girlfriend-hiding situation?" Elena asked, rolling her eyes with a silly smile on her face. They could tell she was thrilled to know that the President has a girlfriend. She found it rather sweet and cute that the President was hiding something from them all along.

"First we won't tell the others. We'll keep it confidential… just us Turks." Tseng told them.

"But don't you think we have to gain the President's trust on this? I mean one day might arrive and he finds out that we knew all along and then he'll get pissed at us and fire us!" Elena pointed out.

"Oh but how do we tell him, like '_Hey Prez! Heard you got a girlfriend! Don't worry we won't tell the others! Teehee!'_" Reno said mockingly as he laughed in the process, trying to imitate Elena's tone and voice.

Elena just sneered at him. "You never really lose the nerve to annoy me, you…" she looked away, crossing her arms. Then her facial expression hardened when she recalled what Rufus had told her about men annoying women as a way to conceal their true feelings from them. And she could not help but blush.

"Let's talk about this some other time. I've got an errand to run." Tseng said as he glanced at his wrist watch. With that, he walked away from them. "Meeting tonight at 9." He reminded them.

"Yessir!" Elena was the only one who answered. She turned to Reno and Rude. "I'm gonna be in the lounge chillin'." She said with a smile on her face before walking away.

Reno watched as she walked away until she got to the elevator. He turned to Rude. "So, you wanna patrol around?" he asked.

Rude just kept quiet.

"You've been quiet ever since it started." Reno pointed out.

Rude just bowed down his head. "Let's go." He said, agreeing to patrol around, leading the way.

Reno began to think about the situation until he finally got it. "You wanna go to the 7th Heaven?" he asked probingly.

Rude shook his head.

"You have a crush on Tifa, don't you?" Reno asked with a silly smile on his face.

Rude turned to Reno and pointed an accusing finger at him. "I'll pretend you didn't say anything. And if you blab to the others about this, I'll make sure they find out that you have a crush on Elena." He said with a hard tone.

Silence.

Reno just cleared his throat and laughed. "Eheh. Okay… Heheh…" he said before patting Rude's back. "Come on, we're buddies! You sound like you don't trust me." He said slyly as they began to walk again.

Rude just smiled slightly at him but did not say anything more. He was just glad that Reno was there to understand him.


	7. Chapter 7

Right Hand of Evil

Chapter 7

oOoOo

"It still puzzles me, though," Cloud began while having lunch with Aerith and their newfound companion, Vincent Valentine.

They also have three other new companions with them: Cait Sith, Cid Highwind and Yuffie Kisaragi. They met all four along the way in their travels to search for answers regarding Sephiroth, ShinRa and Cloud's past. And they were all wondering why ShinRa had drastically changed when Rufus took over. And where was Sephiroth? They had expected him to be after them but they could not find any more trace of him.

At the moment, Cloud and his companions had another stop-over at Costa del Sol before they could take a ship to Junon and then from there head back to Midgar. Barret, Cid and Yuffie were making rounds, observing suspicious behavior, while Cloud ate lunch with Aerith and Vincent. As for Red XIII, he was with them too but he was just sleeping under the table.

"What does Rufus want with your ribbon?" Cloud asked, looking at Aerith's hair and his gaze trailing to her pink ribbon binding her hair in a pony-braid.

"And what's with his _injured_ hand?" Aerith added.

"…and not to mention, this Tifa you're talking about?" Vincent pointed out.

Cloud looked away from them, sighing. "And aren't we supposed to be on the run too? Nobody's arresting us. We reached this place today and the immigration inspected our names and our identities but they did not do anything." He said, crossing his arms.

"Why don't you just surrender that ribbon to Rufus to get it over with? Maybe he'll return Tifa once he gets the ribbon." Vincent suggested before taking a sip of tea.

"For all we know, Rufus could be a sex fiend with a fetish for pink ribbons. I won't let him have Aerith or anything that belongs to her." Cloud said.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Aerith asked, laughing, while Vincent looked ridiculously at Cloud.

"You all heard about the eccentric rich people right? President ShinRa was weird enough. You remember what we saw in the Queen's Room at the Honeybee Inn, right? Who knows, his son could be as eccentric as he is too." Cloud said.

Aerith thought for a while before shrugging. "Rufus seems to be a nice person. Look at the changes he's been doing to the Planet. Everything isn't running on Mako anymore and from what we've seen in the papers this morning, his new projects are really something people have dreamed of ever since his father's time." She said with an impressed smile on her face.

"I still don't like the sound of it." Cloud replied.

"You really don't trust ShinRa, huh?" Vincent murmured.

"Who trusts ShinRa these days anyway?" Cloud argued.

"You're beginning to sound like Barret." Aerith pointed out.

Cloud was dumbfounded. "I do not. I was just stating the obvious!" he said.

"Cloud, everybody deserves another chance. Rufus could be for real but we're just judging him wrongly." She explained.

"How do you explain the part when he wants your pink ribbon?" Cloud asked.

"Oh yes. I almost forgot about that." Vincent said.

Aerith looked unbelievably at him. "What? Whose side are you on anyway?" she asked.

Vincent shrugged. "Let's just give Rufus your ribbon and we'll see what happens." He suggested.

"Alright." She said, nodding her head slowly.

"No." Cloud said.

Aerith and Vincent were quiet for a few seconds, waiting for Cloud to say something else. But he just remained quiet.

"Excuse me…" somebody arrived at their table. It was a tall big man with a muscular build. He had big dark aviator sunglasses on, completely covering his eyes, he wore a black bonnet and he was garbed in an all-black get-up: black shirt, black trousers, black boots and black trench coat.

The three looked at the man, curious but cautious on who he was. "Yes?" Vincent asked.

"I'm an art collector from Midgar and… I just couldn't help but notice the pinkness of that ribbon you have there on your hair, young lady!" the man told Aerith, touching the ribbon.

Cloud eyed the man curiously. "Do I know you?" he asked. "He's definitely taller than Rufus," he thought to himself.

The man, who was really Sephiroth, kept his cool. "Oh. I don't think so. But maybe you've seen me on the lifestyle section of the papers or the art magazines?" he asked.

Aerith, Cloud and Vincent stared at him in confusion. "The last newspaper I picked up was dated 1967, thank you very much." Vincent pointed out, feeling so suspicious about that person who just approached them from out of the blue.

"I don't think so…" Cloud answered.

Aerith smiled kindly at the man. "I've had this ribbon ever since I was a child. It's my mother's." she said.

"Really? I think it's vintage! I'd like to have it!" Sephiroth said, still speaking with a strange accent, trying to imitate a Wutaian accent.

Aerith's eyes widened. "N…no, I don't think so." She said as she got up and moved away from the man.

"Oh, but I insist. I'm willing to pay whatever amount of money you want just so that I could have that ribbon!" he said as he took a step forward to her. Cloud stood up and stepped forward to him. "She said no." he said sternly.

"What do you need the ribbon for, mister?" Vincent asked.

"Uh… to tie my hair." Sephiroth answered.

They were silent for a few moments before Sephiroth looked up and his eyes widened. "Oh my goodness! It's Weapon!" he cried out, making other people look up at the skies too with Cloud, Aerith and Vincent.

While everybody was looking at the skies, Sephiroth instantly grabbed the pink ribbon off Aerith's hair and ran off.

"HEY!" Aerith pushed Cloud aside and ran after the tall man with an angry look on her face. Cloud went after them, "Aerith!" he called out. Vincent also followed them. "That man is Sephiroth!" he told them in disbelief.

"What?" Cloud asked in awe.

"I knew it…" Aerith thought in annoyance as she continued to run after him, but when she followed him to an alley, he was already gone. She stopped in her tracks to catch her breath. She swallowed hard as she grabbed a handful of her long wavy brown hair. "Ooooooh… that Sephiroth… what does he want with that ribbon anyway?" she asked in annoyance.

"I thought Rufus was the one who wanted the ribbon?" Vincent asked as he and Cloud joined her.

She just shrugged.

Aerith sighed heavily. "Oh well… looks like I have to buy a new one…" she said sadly.

Cloud clenched his fists. "I'll get it back for you, Aerith." He decided.

"What?" she asked.

"You said it was from your mother. It really must be precious to you. I'll just retrieve it…" he answered with a reassuring look on his face.

Aerith thought for a while, taking a deep breath with a worried look on her face. "I don't know what they all want with that ribbon! I mean… it's just a ribbon! Nothing special… except that it came from my mother. Do they think they could find the Promised Land through that?" she shook her head in disbelief.

Vincent thought for a while before stating, "I think I know where he's going…"

oOoOo

Rufus ShinRa got his mobile phone when he heard the sound of the message alert tone. He checked on who sent him the SMS. It was from Sephiroth, saying, "Got it."

Rufus smiled slyly. "He got it." He told Tifa.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. How could it be so easy for Sephiroth? But then again, it's Sephiroth.

"Well that was fast…" he stated flatly.

She began to get worried. "Rufus, what if he did something bad to her and to the others that's why he was able to retrieve it quickly?" she asked.

"So what if he did something bad to her? The important thing is for us to be able to get back to the future where we came from." He told her.

"Rufus, she's my friend! Of course I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her!" she argued in frustration.

"Well do you want to get stuck here in this period? We're two years older than what we're supposed to be today!" he told her.

"We still look the same way we did two years ago so they shouldn't notice anything." She reminded him.

He looked at her with a scrutinizing look on his face. "Hmm, no. You're bulkier now." He answered.

She gasped in disbelief. "I beg your pardon?" she demanded in annoyance. She could not believe that someone just called her _bulky_, and in her mind, as a woman, she easily translated it into _fat_.

"And your chest is smaller." He pointed out before putting his mobile phone away. "Now stop complaining. In no time, we're going to go back to the future." He told her.

"No!" she told him.

He looked at his protesting _hand_. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"Rufus, have you forgotten that we're here for a reason?" she reminded him with a stern look on her face.

He thought for a while. "It's uncertain right now." He told her.

"No it is not." She said.

He looked away and continued to review his marketing plan on his computer screen. "What's on your mind, Tifa?" he asked in an uninterested manner. That didn't stop Tifa. She said, "We have to do something here… to change something so that we could correct something in the future!"

"Something, something, something. What is that _something_ you're talking about? You're not making any sense." He told her in a confused manner.

Before Tifa could answer, Rufus placed his left hand over her head to stop her from talking because he sensed that somebody was ascending the stairs leading to the elevated part of the 70th floor. He gently removed his hand and placed it on top of his desk. He then grabbed the mouse of his PC and minimized the word processor program, then just opened his web browser, clicked on one of his bookmarks about a news channel's website and pretended to be busy with the headlines. Tifa wondered what was going on until she heard someone else's voice saying, "President Rufus,"

Rufus veered his gaze away from the monitor and eyed Hojo curiously. "Professor Hojo, it's a surprise to have you here. I'd assume at this hour you'd be very busy with your scientific research." He said, pretending to sound clueless on Hojo's presence in his office.

"It's about your plan, President Rufus." Hojo pointed out as he approached the desk.

"How did you find it?" Rufus asked. But before Hojo could answer, he proceeded, "Oh by the way, Professor Hojo, have you located a new power source already?"

Hojo clenched his jaw for a moment before speaking up, trying to sound calm. "Not yet, President Rufus." He said.

Rufus raised his eyebrows at him. "And why not?" he asked.

Hojo was quiet, wondering why the President's right hand was under his desk.

Rufus took a deep breath and turned back to the monitor. "We're not running on Mako anymore, you know that. The kind of power to run our electricity right now isn't really stable because we do not have enough sources… at least, for the moment. So we need your Science Department to look for new or additional sources of energy here in the Planet that we could use to provide electricity to the Planet." He explained.

"So that's why the lights are fluctuating today in my lab…" Hojo muttered, rolling his eyes.

Rufus narrowed his eyes at him. "I beg your pardon?" he asked airily.

Hojo cleared his throat. "Sir, Mako is the only thing that I could recommend to you. It's perfect and we've got plenty and it's less expensive!" he told Rufus.

"But it's killing the Planet." Rufus pointed out.

Hojo widened his eyes at him and smiled at Rufus in amazement. "Oh? Hahahaha." He could not help but laugh, surprising Rufus and making Tifa cringe.

"What is funny?" Rufus asked, trying to keep his cool.

Hojo's laughter ceased slowly as he spoke up again, "President Rufus, I am surprised at you. I thought you would be following your father's footsteps!"

Rufus was quiet, trying to keep his cool. "Well, unfortunately, I am far more different from my Old Man…" he began.

"Maybe that's the reason why he had to send you away to Junon when you were still his Vice President." Hojo pointed out.

"Professor Hojo, I do not appreciate you talking to me like that and I would prefer it if you spoke to me with respect." Rufus told him sternly.

Hojo smiled at Rufus. "You are insane, President Rufus. Why would you even want to waste all your time and effort in changing everything your father has ever strived to work for in the past? Have you no respect for his wishes? Are his past efforts in running this Planet not good enough for you?" he asked nonchalantly.

Tifa saw Rufus's left eye twitch and she felt that he was getting warmer. "Oh no… he's angry… but he's keeping it all inside. It's going to be more dangerous that way. Oh dear, I hope he just snaps at that rude man!"

The room was silent for a couple of moments before Rufus's voice echoed across the room. "No." he answered.

Hojo narrowed his eyes on him.

"Unfortunately, no." Rufus repeated before smiling calmly at Hojo. "I'm surprised that you weren't listening when I said that I am far more different from my Old Man. I have respect for his wishes… and I am aware of his past efforts of running Midgar; however, I do not approve of all of them. Now that I am the President, I do not care what his will indicates regarding how I should run Midgar or how I should run this company." He explained with a cold and hard tone.

Tifa realized that she forgot to exhale during Rufus's explanation, so she did at that moment when there was a pause between the two. She was wide-eyed, preferring to listen anyway.

Hojo shrugged and turned away. "Well… if that is the case…" he faced the President once more and approached his desk with a serious look on his face.

Rufus stiffened, but tried to maintain his calm and cool composure. He did not want to let Hojo see that a little Tifa was attached to his right hand! He further hid Tifa under his table between his knees.

Tifa was also nervous, sensing that something bad was going to happen, but she just kept quiet and prayed that everything would be alright. She could feel her own heart racing, and she could also feel Rufus's pulse beating faster.

To Rufus's horror, Hojo brought out a pistol and aimed at his head. "We don't need a president like you." He told Rufus.

Rufus was about to grab his shotgun with his left hand, but before his left was slow compared to his right, and Hojo pulled the trigger.

The gunshot made Tifa cringe and cover her ears.

But Hojo missed.

Rufus was stunned.

Tifa slowly removed her hands from her ears and looked up at Rufus, wondering if he was alright. She could not see any blood and she could not sense any pain from him, however, she saw that he looked surprised—his blue eyes were wide in wonder.

Rufus stared in bewilderment at the silver blade of the Masamune that had penetrated Hojo from behind his lower back, and then it had been withdrawn out of Hojo's body. Hojo then fell forward to the ground, dead.

Sephiroth sighed in relief. "Unfortunately, this guy might come back to life so to make sure…" he repeatedly stabbed Hojo with his Masamune.

Rufus shoved his right hand inside the pocket of his blazer and got up, shocked at this behavior being displayed by Sephiroth. "Bloody hell, stop that!" he cried out as he ran to him, seeing that Hojo's blood was beginning to scatter on the floor.

Sephiroth stopped stabbing Hojo and turned to Rufus with a surprised look on his face. "I was having fun!" he said in exasperation.

"Well I won't be having fun once the Turks and the others ask me about _that_ blood on my floor!" Rufus snapped angrily.

Sephiroth was dumbfounded. "Oh. No harm done. We'll just clean it up…" he began, but he froze when he heard someone shout behind him, "INTRUDER!" followed by another voice saying, "They're right. He _is_ here!"

"Shit." Sephiroth mouthed as he turned around and flashed a friendly smile at the Turks and the SOLDIERs who were there. "Er… hi." He said.

"Drop the weapon or we'll harm you." Tseng commanded.

Sephiroth just dropped his Masamune without any warning to avoid further commotion and bad perception about him.

"Blimey, let me handle this!" Rufus said as he pushed Sephiroth aside. "Alright, it's not what you think. Sephiroth is…"

The Turks were surprised. "President Rufus! You're working with him?" Tseng demanded in shock.

But before Rufus could answer, they all ganged up on Sephiroth. Sephiroth, on the other hand, tried to escape from them without harming them, and Rufus just watched in shock, not knowing what to do to help his friend.

"Rufus, catch!" Sephiroth threw the ribbon at Rufus.

Rufus got it and stared at it in awe before turning back to Sephiroth again with a look of disbelief on his face.

Sephiroth just smiled at him and continued to struggle against the Turks and the SOLDIERs who were trying to hold him down and tie him up.

Rufus then turned his gaze to the direction where the stairs were located… and saw Cloud Strife standing there with Aerith Gainsborough and Vincent Valentine. Rufus eyed them carefully, but maintaining eye contact with Cloud after looking at his two other companions. "They must've followed Sephiroth back here and reported him to the Turks…" he realized before rushing to Sephiroth and tried to help him get away. "I said let me handle this!" he told the Turks.

"No, President Rufus, he's dangerous!" Reno stated flatly.

Sephiroth, feeling enraged and degraded, just pushed everybody away including Rufus, whose face he had accidentally hit with his elbow, knocking him down.

"Ack!" Elena reacted in panic when she saw the President fall down to the ground sideways.

Since he was going to land on his right, he knew he had to protect Tifa, and there was no other way to save her from breaking her bones (and his arm) but to remove her from his pocket.

Everybody was stunned to see the little woman attached onto the President's right wrist.

"…Tifa!" Cloud and Aerith both exclaimed in unison.

"What the--?" Reno was at a loss for words.

Elena's mouth was wide open, not knowing what else to say.

Rude slightly lifted his glasses to get a clearer look at the situation, and his eyes were wide in disbelief.

Tifa all looked at them in shock before turning her gaze to Rufus when she heard him call her name.

They just stared into each other's eyes as they felt the room spinning around them… and the next thing they knew, they were already dizzy and slowly losing consciousness…

oOoOo

When Rufus heard heavy footsteps on a wooden floor somewhere near him and recognized the sound of early morning Midgar rush-hour, he instantly opened his eyes and tried to get up, but he realized that he could not move his legs… only his arms and hands could move.

He looked up at the ceiling and it looked very high from where he was lying and when he scanned the room around him, he realized that everything seemed so big… and that it was not his room anymore. "Oh no…" he thought in worry. He could remember fainting in his office because of an unknown reason, and he could also remember seeing three of the members of AVALANCHE, the Turks and some SOLDIERs… and Sephiroth involved in a struggle. "Maybe AVALANCHE captured me…" he thought to himself in wonder before freezing in shock upon realizing that Tifa was beside him… and that she was very big.

He took a glance at his supposed-legs, but he realized that he was attached to Tifa's right wrist… and that he was topless. "ARGH! Tifa!" he screamed to make her wake up. He was totally panicking.

Tifa instantly opened her eyes and although she still saw some stars in her vision because it took a while for her eyes to adjust to the early morning sunshine in her room, she sat up and looked around. "Rufus? Why? What's going on?" she called out in worry. Then she stiffened when she realized that she was in her bedroom at her bar in Edge. "Where are you, Rufus?" she asked softly.

"I'm right here…" he muttered frustratingly.

She looked down at her right hand and she gasped as she raised him up to her face and stared at him horridly. "Oh my goodness! What happened?" she asked.

"I have no idea!" he answered.

They both jerked and gasped when somebody just started to knock on the door. "Tifa? Are you alright?"

Tifa felt the color drain from her face. "Aerith…" she realized.

"Are we back from where we came from?" Rufus asked.

"I don't know!" she whispered to him.

"Why is she here?" he whispered back.

"I have no idea!" Tifa wailed in panic and confusion.

"Tifa, who are you talking to?" Aerith called out as she opened the door. Tifa instantly lied down again and hid her right hand under her blanket.

Aerith stared at her in wonder. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

Tifa smiled casually at her. "Y…yes. Uhm…" she froze when she saw that Aerith was wearing a very loose pink dress… and her tummy was big. Tifa's smile faded and she slowly sat up while trying to keep her right hand hidden under her blanket. "You're… pregnant?" she asked with a shaky tone. Where is she? Tifa was beginning to get confused. She could remember fainting in Rufus's office when everybody saw that she was attached to his hand, but now it was the other way around: he was attached to her hand now.

Aerith blinked. "Why, yes…" she replied. "Gee. I wonder what's wrong with her…" she was thinking to herself.

"How many months now?" Tifa added.

"7." Aerith replied.

Tifa bit her lower lip before proceeding with another question, "How old am I?" she asked as she looked away with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"You're _22_! Tifa, are you alright?" Aerith asked as she approached her, but before she could sit beside Tifa on the bed, she got shooed off.

"No! Stay away!" Tifa said, raising her left hand at Aerith to make her stop.

Aerith moved away with a look of wonder on her kind face, but before she could ask questions, Tifa already had an excuse, "Uh… I don't feel so well… like… I'm going to vomit… so if you don't want to get dirtied…just stay away. And tell the others to stay away too!"

Aerith studied the paleness of Tifa's face. "You do look pale…you're really nauseous?" she asked.

Tifa nodded.

"I'll get a bucket where you could barf. Hang on." Aerith said before going out of the room. "Denzel! Marlene! A little help here!" Tifa and Rufus heard her call out to the two children.

"Okay, we're back here in the time where we really came from; but why am I bloody attached to your hand why is she pregnant?" Rufus demanded from Tifa.

Tifa was speechless as she removed Rufus from her blanket. She was about to cry.

He opened his mouth to say something to calm her down, but he did not know what to say or what to do. He saw her lips trembling and the tears were continuing to fill her brown eyes. He knew that he should stop her or else she could draw more attention to herself… and they might see him too. "Alright, stop that. Why are you crying?" he demanded sternly.

She sniffed and bit her lower lip, unable to speak.

He clenched his fists at her. "Are you crying because you're jealous of Aerith? Because you still _love_ Cloud Strife and…" he demanded continuously.

Tifa saw the angry look on his face and she shook her head immediately, "No! I'm not crying because of that! I'm just… confused!" she answered in exasperation.

"We're both confused so stop complaining." He snapped impatiently, crossing his arms and turning away from her. He did not want her to see that his face was turning red already; however, she could feel his anger and his body heating up because of it.

"But… we're back from where we came from… but we're still attached to each other…" she stated with a trembling tone, but then Denzel and Marlene arrived and she instantly hid her hand under the blanket again.

"Tifa, are you okay?" Denzel asked curiously as he and Marlene approached her.

"Why are you crying?" Marlene asked.

"Aerith told us you're not feeling well." He continued.

"Yes, I'm not feeling well… I think I'm going to vomit…" Tifa pretended to be ready to expel the vomit from her stomach by making a hurling sound in hopes that the two children would move away from her. She could not let them see her hand.

The two children moved away from her.

Cloud entered the room with a disapproving look on his face.

Tifa blinked. "Cloud!" she said in surprise.

"We told you to rest last night but you still insisted on working." He told her.

She just wanted to faint again and maybe when she wakes up later, everything will be alright and Rufus would be away from her. She smiled weakly as she saw the wedding ring on Cloud's left ring finger. "Urgh. When did you and Aerith get married?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

Cloud blinked, wondering if she was losing her mind.

"Is she suffering from memory loss?" Denzel asked him.

"Why would she even be suffering from memory loss?" Marlene argued, totally disapproving Denzel's theory.

"You don't remember anything?" Cloud asked Tifa.

"Well… I can remember…" she stammered, then clenched her left fist and hit her own head in frustration, deciding not to say anything more. "Oh never mind! I don't know!" she wailed.

Aerith arrived again with a bucket and a towel. "Move over," she told Cloud and the children as she entered the room.

Tifa stopped her, "Just leave it there… I'll… Uhm… I can vomit by myself!" she said weakly.

Not wanting to stress her out, Aerith just obeyed and left the bucket and the towel on top of the dresser. "Come on, let's leave her here for a while…" she told Cloud and the Children. As they exited, Tifa kept her gaze on the wedding ring on Aerith's left ring finger.

As soon as the door closed, Tifa got out of bed and went to her closet and brought out one of her old clothes.

"What are you up to now?" Rufus asked.

"I'm going to make you some clothes." She answered as she got her sewing kit from one of her drawers.

"You have those two kids here. Why not ask if they have dolls and borrow some of their dolls' clothes?" he asked airily.

"Denzel doesn't play with dolls, and all of Marlene's dolls are girls. Do you want to wear dresses?" she asked with a silly smile on her face, imagining Rufus in a dress. She giggled.

He eyed her suspiciously, "Stop imagining it." He snapped.

"Oh. How did you know that I was imagining it?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

"I've been attached to you for quite some time already and I'm beginning to get used to your behavior. Besides, aren't you aware that whatever you are feeling and how your internal organs are reacting, I can feel them?" he asked.

She blinked before cutting out a pattern from her old shirt. "Well… yes. I could feel your body temperature whenever you're getting warmer or colder… and I could tell if you're nervous or angry or sad too when I was still in your position." She said with a satisfied smile on her face.

Rufus eyed the white fabric that she was holding.

She noticed that he was looking at it so she said, "I know you love white so I'm making you a white shirt." She told him.

He looked at her with a pleased smile on his face. "Well then, thank you, you're too kind." He said bluntly.

Tifa wondered if he was being sarcastic but when she saw his smile, she realized that he was really grateful. "Of course. You're also nice to me when I was attached to your hand. And yeah, we really bonded back then. Haha." She said with a slight blush on her face.

"So if I was unkind to you, you won't make me any clothes?" he asked curiously.

"No, I won't let you get cold… but I'll let you wear the dresses of Marlene's dolls. Teehee!" she giggled.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Why I never…" he muttered.

"Hold the other end…" Tifa instructed as she handed part of the cloth to Rufus.

Rufus wondered if she could sew with her left hand, but realized that she was having a hard time. Still, he kept his mouth shut and decided not to remark on how slow she was working with her left hand and that she should just stop working. But something about her determination made him think twice about her. He wondered up to what extent could she continue to be nice to him, but remembered that even if he acted like a spoiled brat, she would retaliate at first and then bear with it. In time, he realized that she had learned to accept his behavior and who he really is and that he was the same with her. He was so focused on thinking about Tifa that he did not realize that he was smiling.

Tifa kept on glancing at him, wondering why he was smiling while staring into empty space. She blushed slightly when he realized how handsome he was when he's smiling but she fought the urge to smile too.

"So what now?" she asked, wanting to break the silence, although he did not want to interrupt the moment on when she was swooning over his smile. But she knew that it was no time to swoon over Rufus ShinRa. They both had to work things out so that they could return to normal.

Rufus's smile faded and he bowed down his head. "This is… not really where we came from. It's the _future_, alright, but it's very different. Aerith is alive… and everything looks… alright." He heard Tifa say.

He looked at her. "I was holding the pink ribbon before we fainted, where is it?" he asked.

Tifa stopped sewing. "…I don't know…" she said.

"Is Aerith's hair tied up?" he asked.

"Yes, it's braided in the usual manner… with… that ribbon." She realized slowly.

Rufus frowned slightly. "So we're back here… but everything's different… and I'm attached to you." He looked away. "You'll have to ask them questions." He instructed.

"About what?" she asked.

"Ask them about Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo if they exist, Geostigma, stuff about Sephiroth, then about me and ShinRa." He answered.

Tifa took a deep breath, frowning, "Alright… but you'll have to assist me." She said.

"Hide me in bandages first after you finish that." he said.

oOoOo

Author's Note: It took long, I know. Sorry. I had to get inspired by other Tifus fics. This is such a long chapter (in Word, it says 10 pages), and I hope it kind of compensates for the lag. But anyway, until next time…


	8. Chapter 8

Right Hand of Evil

Chapter 8

oOoOo

"I'm worried about Tifa. She looks so dazed." Aerith said as she helped Marlene in setting the table.

Cloud served the food on the dining table. "How can we move out from here if she's behaving like that?" he asked her.

"What? You're moving out?" Marlene asked with a surprised look on her face.

"Well you could visit us sometime. Besides, it's just a couple of blocks from here," he answered with a kind smile on his face.

They heard someone come in from the front door.

"Is that you, Vincent?" Aerith called out.

"No, it's Sephiroth." A deep masculine voice answered.

"Hey," Cloud greeted as Sephiroth stepped inside the dining area.

"Where have you been, Mister Sephiroth?" Marlene asked happily.

"Just walking Red XIII." Sephiroth answered as Red XIII trailed from behind him.

Just then, they heard someone descending the stairs. They turned to see who it was. It was Tifa.

She stared wide-eyed at them. She was wearing her Advent Children garb complete with the pink ribbon around her left arm. They wondered, however, why her right hand was inside the right pocket of her Bermuda shorts.

She eyed Sephiroth in awe. "W…what are you doing here?" she asked.

Sephiroth blinked. "I'm visiting." He said with a perplexed look on his face.

"You… live here?" she asked, feeling so estranged but wanting to be sure.

"No, I have my own house in Sector 1." He answered.

"Sector 1?" she asked. Wasn't it destroyed?

"He's friends with Rufus; he works for him too... just like me. Don't you remember?" Cloud asked her.

Tifa blinked and pretended to have remembered. "Oh! Yes, I remember now… sorry… I just… had a bad dream… but… where's Rufus?" she asked.

"That's why I came here today too. He's missing." Sephiroth said.

Tifa shrugged. "Really?" she asked, although she sounded so uninterested because she knew where Rufus was.

"Yeah. Nobody knows why." Cloud elaborated.

Tifa took a deep breath before saying, "Anyway, do you still have bandages you used for your Geostigma before?"

Silence.

"What Geo… what?" Cloud asked in confusion.

"Geostigma? What is that?" Aerith asked.

Tifa was dumbfounded.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Damn. Tifa, there's no Geostigma here! Things changed, remember?" he was thinking to himself, wishing he could speak up to remind her.

"N…never mind… I just need bandages." Tifa pointed out weakly.

"Why?" Cloud asked before turning to Marlene. "Could you run upstairs and get the bandages." He told her.

"Okay," Marlene said as she went upstairs.

"Are you alright now, Tifa?" Aerith asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yes. I am…" Tifa answered.

"Then what do you need the bandages for?" Cloud asked.

"…I kinda injured my right hand…" she answered uncomfortably.

"Really, can I see?" Aerith asked as she attempted to approach her, but Tifa moved away. "Oh no, no. Don't bother to look at it. It's really an ugly wound…" Tifa told her.

Aerith blinked in awe. "I can heal it for you." She said.

"Gee, I wish you could but if you see how _horrible_ the wound is, you might faint… and they might faint too!" Tifa said with a weak smile on her face, also referring to Cloud and Sephiroth. "Anyway, I'll… just follow Marlene upstairs…" she said before rushing back to the stairs and went up to the second floor.

"What is wrong with her?" Sephiroth asked in wonder.

"I don't know…" Cloud said.

"We think she's over-working herself in her bar… maybe that's the reason why she's acting so strange…" Aerith said. "Anyway, have you found Rufus yet?" she continued.

"No. We definitely have no idea as to where he could be and who could kidnap him." Sephiroth answered. "We've been investigating it ever since this morning when we found out that he's missing." He continued.

From the top of the stairs, Tifa was listening to the conversation from downstairs. She took a deep breath before whispering to Rufus, "They think you've been kidnapped."

"Well that's nice…" Rufus muttered.

"Tifa," Marlene interrupted them.

Tifa jerked slightly upon hearing the little girl's voice. She turned around to face Marlene who was standing at the end of the hallway. She was holding the bandages. "Who are you talking to?" Marlene asked her with a curious look on her face.

Tifa shook her head as she smiled calmly at her. "I was just talking to myself…" she answered as she approached Marlene, took the bandages and patted her head. "Thanks." She said before heading back to her bedroom on the third floor.

Marlene followed her with her gaze, wondering about Tifa's behavior.

oOoOo

Tifa was carefully wrapping the bandages around Rufus. "No Geostigma, no Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo…" she told him.

"Maybe for now. You haven't asked for those Three Stooges yet." He told her.

She giggled. "Three Stooges? Haha."

He raised his eyebrows. "I'm serious!" he told her.

"Oh, blimey, where's your bloody sense of humor, Rufus?" she asked him.

Rufus winced a little. There was something about the way she mentions his name that never really fails to catch his attention and make him look at her. He shrugged. "I guess it shrank away when I shrank too!" he answered sarcastically.

Tifa still smiled at him. "Well I'll bet I can make you laugh." She said.

"You always make me laugh." He answered bluntly.

"You're being sarcastic, Rufus." She said.

Doh. There she goes again. She said his name.

She began to poke his side and tried to tickle him but he did not even budge.

He stared unbelievably at her. "What are you trying to do?" he demanded.

"I'm trying to tickle you!" she answered while giggling.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh give me a break!" he said in annoyance.

She quickly covered his mouth with the bandage to make him shut up because she was frustrated at her failed attempt to tickle the humorless Rufus ShinRa. He reacted rather violently and tried to say "Argh! Don't wrap it too tightly! I might suffocate!" but all she heard was a muffled cry.

"I get it, I get it. You do have a sense of humor but it's very sarcastic. Don't ask how I know, I just found out for myself because I've been with you for quite some time now." She said before taking a deep breath and sighing heavily as she completed the wrapping of the bandages around his head but making sure he could still breathe. "Can you breathe?" she asked gently.

He nodded. "Yes, thank you very much." He replied glumly.

She smiled at him gently, knowing that he could not see her anymore because of the bandages. "You know I never really imagined the two of us together like this…" she told him honestly.

"Really?" he asked, not knowing what else to say after being quiet for a few moments due to contemplation regarding what she had just mentioned to him.

"Uh-huh." She said as she placed aside the rest of the bandages on top of her bedside table.

"What was your first impression of me anyway?" he asked her in a nonchalant manner.

She could not help but smile further when she heard that as she moved towards the door. "Why are you asking me that question?" she asked.

"Because I want to know." He answered.

"Oooh. Interesting. Rufus ShinRa wants to know what other people think of him! Maybe next time we could ask Cloud, Aerith and the rest of the gang on what they thought of you on the first time we met you!" she said gleefully.

Rufus did not know whether she was getting even with him because he thought that she was being sarcastic with him the way that he had been sarcastic with her moments ago. He just shrugged. "I only ask that question to _special_ people whom I am comfortable with." He told her honestly. "So be flattered." He added with a secret smile on his face.

She could not help but feel that he was flirting with her, but she tried to keep her composure. "I am?" she asked, blushing as she stopped in her tracks, grabbing the doorknob with her left hand.

"Don't make me repeat myself." He told her sternly.

She pursed her lips and lowered her gaze to her bandaged "right hand". But before she could answer him, he spoke up, "Never you mind. I'm starving. I can smell the food."

She felt her heart getting crushed. "He's avoiding the issue…" she thought to herself with a disappointed look on her face. "Sure." She said to him plainly before opening the door and stepping out or her room.

oOoOo

Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, Sephiroth, Marlene, Vincent, Barret and Denzel were quiet as they ate their lunch, observing Tifa as she ate with her left hand and kept her right hand on top of the table and she seldom moved it as if it was stiff.

"Are you sure that is okay?" Barret asked, feeling uncomfortable. He was imagining what could have happened to that hand of hers… like, it could have been crushed by something and she did not want any medical treatment.

"It looks swollen…" Yuffie pointed out.

"No it's not. It's just wrapped thickly, that's all." Tifa told them reassuringly although she looked like she was hiding something. She wished she was better in acting calmly just like Rufus so that they would leave her and her _hand_ alone.

"What happened to your hand anyway, Tifa?" Marlene asked.

"I… was trying to close the window but my hand got caught... you get the picture." She answered.

"Man, you're so clumsy," Cloud pointed out rather carelessly with a disapproving look on his face. Aerith shot him a warning look. Sephiroth snickered while Vincent stared horridly at the bandaged _hand_, imagining how the window slammed against her hand.

"Really? Did it bleed?" Denzel asked curiously with a look of wonder on his face.

"…No." Tifa answered while eyeing Cloud in annoyance. "And yes, I know I'm clumsy." She told her friend with sarcasm.

Cloud just shrugged. "We think you should have that checked." He told her, not wanting to start a fight with her.

"He's right. What if there are broken bones or something? You could be bleeding internally now." Vincent added.

Rufus could feel that everybody was staring at him even if he was wrapped in bandages. He liked and hated the smell of bandages at the same time. For one thing, it smells clean and he loves to keep himself clean. But the downside is, it reminded him of the smell of hospitals. He never really liked hospitals that much even though at one point in his life, he dreamed of becoming a doctor.

"No, I'm not. I'm perfectly fine." Tifa reassured them with a weak smile on her face.

"What about your _morning sickness_?" Sephiroth asked her.

She stopped eating and eyed him in wonder. "Morning sickness?" she asked. Wasn't that a symptom of pregnancy? She raised her eyebrows at him. "I was just queasy." She got her glass and filled it with water from the pitcher. "And please stop giving me looks that I'm pregnant. It's making me uncomfortable." She told them, feeling that her ears were getting warmer.

"Are you?" Cloud asked curiously.

The other men eyed her in curiosity.

She blinked in bewilderment. "Of course not! I don't even have a boyfriend… and I haven't… done _that_ before." She blushed and gulped down the water from her glass. She noticed that they were still eyeing her. She could tell that they were not buying what she had just said, except for Aerith who was convinced that something else was wrong with her.

"No boyfriend since birth. But _it_ could happen…" Sephiroth pointed out with a mean smile on his face.

"Foo'!" Barret laughed at Tifa, "So, you followin' Aerith's footsteps?" he asked her.

"I'm not pregnant!" Tifa protested in annoyance.

Silence.

"Alright, that's enough." Aerith told them. "You boys ought to respect her privacy now." She added sternly.

"We believe her, Aerith. We're just teasing her. Mwahah." Sephiroth said, trying to stop himself from laughing.

Tifa clenched her jaw and just looked away.

"So anyway... as I was saying," Yuffie continued to blab about something that Tifa could not relate to. However, everybody else seemed to be interested with what she was telling them.

Tifa just continued to eat, thankful that she was not being teased upon anymore. When nobody else was looking at her, she sneaked a piece of bread and a piece of steak and some vegetables in a plastic bag and placed it inside her pocket. "Ugh… now I know how hard it was for Rufus to sneak some food for me…" she thought to herself, feeling so uncomfortable. She thought that he could have starved her, but when she was with him, she never felt neglected. Somehow, being attached to Rufus's hand for a long time made her feel fulfilled and satisfied with life. She never realized that he could be capable of caring for her when in fact, she thought that he would just leave her to die. "Hmm… but that would be ugly… if I died and I was still a part of his body… ugh. Gross. Blimey, he would have to chop me off!" she thought with a disgusted facial expression on her face.

"Tifa?"

Her thoughts were interrupted when Denzel called out her name. She turned to him. "Y…yes, Denzel?" she asked.

"You're spacing out. Are you alright?" he asked.

All eyes turned to her.

She took a deep breath and smiled happily at them. "Oh yeah… I am… I was just thinking…" she stammered.

"Of what?" Marlene asked curiously.

"Uh… of… a Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj. Do you know who they are?" Tifa continued.

"Finally." Rufus thought silently, relieved that she had finally spoken up about those three.

Sephiroth eyed her unbelievably.

"You don't remember who my children are?" Vincent asked in disbelief.

Tifa's eyes widened. "What?" she asked in awe. "Who's… who's your wife then?" she asked.

"Lucrecia." Vincent answered.

Tifa was dumbfounded, so was Rufus. "I thought she's dead?" she asked.

"No, she's not. She was just in isolation in a cave… and we found her two years ago when Hojo died." Sephiroth told her.

Now Tifa and Rufus were really confused.

"Are you okay, Tifa?" Aerith was really beginning to get worried.

"Are you sure the window hit your hand and not your head?" Yuffie asked, eyeing Tifa suspiciously.

Tifa took a deep breath. She realized that it was easier to go back to the past because she knew what would happen in the future, but when things from the past gets amended, the future can change too. She smiled uneasily. "I think… I hit my head too…" she told them. And it was equally hard to catch up.

"A lot has changed…" Rufus realized silently with a frown on his face. "How the bloody hell am I going to catch up?" he thought. He could sense that Tifa had gotten more confused.

"So… you have three children?" Tifa continued, looking at Vincent curiously.

"Actually, yes, if you include Sephiroth. He's the eldest." Vincent told her with a proud look on his face.

"What about… Kadaj?" she asked.

"Kadaj?" Sephiroth asked.

Vincent blinked. "Well… Lucrecia's planning to have another child… and we thought we'd name him Kadaj. But how did you know that, Tifa?" she asked.

Tifa felt like the color was draining from her face. "Just… a guess." She answered uncomfortably.

"Loz is a year old; Yazoo is only a few months old." Sephiroth reminded her.

She nodded uneasily. "I see… and…" she swallowed hard. "What has Rufus been doing in two years ever since?" she asked.

"He's just in ShinRa, working and working and working." Cloud pointed out.

"And he's still single, never goes out on dates…" Sephiroth continued with an amused smile on his face.

"But he's running Midgar perfectly, in my opinion." Vincent added.

"That foo's definitely better than his father." Barret said with a look of approval on his face.

Tifa was stunned. "R…really?" she asked.

"How come you can't remember anything?" Yuffie asked in confusion.

"I'm… just a little shaken, I guess. I mean, I don't really feel so good and all…" Tifa fibbed rather uneasily. She stopped for a while before asking, "How did Hojo die?"

They were all quiet, staring at her in awe.

"You don't really remember, do you?" Cloud asked.

She shook her head.

"I killed him." Sephiroth pointed out bluntly.

Tifa eyed him carefully. "You did?" she asked.

"Yes, because he attacked Rufus." He said.

She gasped. "You saved Rufus?" she asked.

"I _work_ for Rufus." Sephiroth told him.

"_We_ work for Rufus." Cloud added.

Tifa blinked. "I work for him too?" she asked.

"No, just me, Sephiroth and Vincent… and Barret. Barret works in the Weapons Department as one of the researchers and developers; I'm Rufus's Vice President for now, Sephiroth is a General; he is also the head of the Peace Keepings Division, while Vincent is the new head of the Turks." Cloud pointed out.

Tifa stared at Rufus in surprise. "You're the Vice President?" she asked in shock.

Cloud frowned at her, "Why, does it look impossible?" he demanded.

"Then why are you guys still living here with me?" Tifa asked. "I mean… you have all the money in the world to… move out!" she said.

"We can't leave you, Tifa. Especially since now you're displaying symptoms of pregnancy…" Cloud began.

"WHAT?" Tifa cried out exasperatedly.

"No, seriously, we can't leave you, foo', coz we're helping out at your bar too. Especially Aerith. You're overworking yourself and you need assistance." Barret pointed out.

"Basically, you're like the female version of Rufus." Sephiroth added.

"…with no exceptions? …that I'm like Rufus except that I'm happier and more optimistic and…" she said after a few moments of silence because of bewilderment.

"No exceptions." Yuffie answered bluntly.

"I think this is the best time to tell her the truth…" Cloud said.

Aerith smiled sadly at her. "Tifa, we're concerned about you. You've just… transformed." She said.

Tifa blinked. "I did?" she asked.

"Yeah. You used to be really contented with your life but in two years, we noticed that you've changed…" Aerith began.

"In other words, you're a mess!" Sephiroth said frankly.

Vincent eyed him warningly.

"What? I'm telling the truth!" Sephiroth said in defense when he saw that his father was eyeing him that way.

Tifa was dumbfounded as she slowly got up. "Gee, I think I should lie down for a while…" she said as she uncomfortably walked going to the stairs.

As soon as they could not hear her footsteps on the stairs anymore, Cloud spoke up, "We should have her checked."

Aerith nodded. "I'm getting really worried about her condition." She said.

"Yeah. Especially if she's really pregnant but she's hiding it from us? It could be dangerous for her baby!" Yuffie said.

oOoOo

"Did you hear that? I'm a total mess now!" Tifa told Rufus as she shut the door, locked it and began to remove the bandages around him.

"Looks like we're all surprised…" he said.

She placed the bandages on the bed. "We're like, screwed. We changed stuff in the past and now they're telling me how such a big mess I am!" she told him exasperatingly.

"What's so bad about overworking?" Rufus asked.

"Are you nuts?" she argued in disbelief. But then she almost forgot that she was talking to Rufus ShinRa, a workaholic. "I'm not really _that_ serious. What happened to my _fun_ side?" she asked as she plopped down on her bed.

"Never mind. You're _here_. You're different. You can change." Rufus told her.

"Oh well… you're right…" she said after giving it a thought before pulling out the plastic bag and smiled sadly at Rufus. "It's not presentable but… here's your lunch." She told him.

Rufus stared at his lunch and frowned slightly. "Thank you…" he said bluntly as she assisted him in eating.

"Well, life looked a lot better. The kitchen looked nicer, the stairs are not creaking, the bar looks bigger… the children are wearing nicer clothes…" Tifa stated flatly.

"I wonder how I am doing here, though." Rufus said.

"You heard them; you're overworking yourself." She said. "But now, you've been _kidnapped_ and nobody knows why or how…" she added.

"Well, they are being suspicious of you already. They even though you're pregnant…" Rufus smiled and he laughed at her.

She frowned at her. "Are you making fun of me?" she demanded.

"You're too tense, Tifa. That's why you're giving them the impression that something is really wrong with you." He said.

"Well something is indeed wrong with me…" she said, eyeing him miserably, meaning to point out that he caused her misfortune.

"Just calm down. Don't make such a big deal out of me being attached to your hand." He said casually.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh don't be such a hypocrite, Rufus. Did you feel that way when I was attached to your hand?" she demanded.

"Of course I felt uneasy at first but I got used to… having you around me." He hesitated with a frown on his face.

She looked away sadly. "Well that's odd, hearing something like that from you." She told him.

He did not say anything more.

"I just wished I was in my normal size and wasn't attached to your hand…" she muttered.

He looked up at her but before he could say anything, she shoved a piece of bread into his mouth.

"Anyway, I'm surprised that this time, you're the one attached to my hand. I wonder what happened. Based on your theory, once we get Aerith's ribbon, we'd be back here. But now we're back from where we came from, how come we're still attached to each other? And it's the other way around now!" she said with a confused look on her face as Rufus chewed his food.

After swallowing, he said, "Maybe we did something wrong."

"Your theory is wrong?" she asked.

Rufus felt a little ticked off that Tifa thinks he's wrong. Nobody thinks that Rufus ShinRa is wrong. But he just kept the annoyance to himself. "No. We could have done something wrong… or maybe we forgot to do something?" he asked.

Her face sulked. "But caused such a drastic change in the past, what else could have gone wrong?" she asked.

"Exactly. We have to find out _in this present state_ we're in." he muttered.

They were silent for a few moments, thinking of what else they could do.

"Everyone seems alright. Cloud looks happy, Aerith is alive, Vincent is contented with his life, Sephiroth isn't insane… the children aren't sick. What is there to change?" he asked in annoyance. He did not know what to think of anymore.

She blinked in awe and eyed him, lifting him up so that she could look at him face-to-face. He wondered why she was looking at him in awe.

"It's _us_." She told him.


	9. Chapter 9

Right Hand of Evil

Chapter 9

oOoOo

_5 months later…_

"Still no luck on finding Rufus?" Aerith asked as Cloud got home one night just before dinner was about to start.

Tifa looked up at the two as she remained seated on her chair in the dining room.

"Sephiroth and Vincent thought they had a lead, but no. Wrong information." He answered.

"Well anyway, join us for dinner here," Aerith told him with a sweet smile on her face.

Cloud nodded. "Sure. I'll just put my stuff upstairs." He said with a smile before rushing upstairs.

Aerith walked back to Tifa. "He's doing Rufus's duties since Rufus isn't here…" she said.

Tifa felt Rufus tapping her wrist. She instantly knew what he wanted to ask. She spoke in behalf of him, "Is he even doing a good job at it?" she asked.

"Of course he is. He's friends with Rufus and he was trained by him." Aerith answered proudly.

Denzel and Marlene arrived from outside.

"How come they live here?" Tifa asked. She did not care whether Aerith or the others thought that she was a nutcase or not. She just asked them questions whenever she felt like she needed to. That was what Rufus had taught her in the long months that they had been together: do not mind what other people will say about you, just do whatever you want to do and say whatever you want to say.

"Barret's working and he cannot usually attend to them so…" Aerith answered with a smile on her face as she sat down with Tifa.

Tifa was just quiet, eyeing Aerith sadly.

Aerith wondered why Tifa was staring at her. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked in concern.

Tifa took a deep breath and smiled uneasily at Aerith. "Nothing… I just… don't feel well. I think I'll… just go to bed early." She got up and went upstairs, going straight to her room.

She unwrapped the bandages and placed them on top of her bedside table.

"What's wrong with you?" Rufus asked her.

"It's been 5 months now and I still don't know how to get rid of you…" she answered miserably.

"You want to get rid of me?" he asked with a frown on his face. "Fine, chop me off from your hand if it makes you feel better." He said.

"No… I mean… oh never mind," she shook her head in confusion.

"What? Tell me." He demanded, crossing his arms. He had a stern look on his face. He was not in the mood to play mind games at that moment.

She sighed heavily and smiled sadly at him. "Rufus, I'm glad that you and I got to know each other well in those long months that we've been attached to each other… but I don't want to be attached to you anymore!" she said.

He was confused by what she said, but before he could make a remark, she spoke up again, "Tell me how you feel about me,"

He was overwhelmed. "What?" he asked.

She looked at him with a serious gaze, but she was unsure whether she should repeat the question.

Unknown to her, Aerith and Cloud were listening from outside her door. They were stunned to hear Tifa talking inside… with Rufus ShinRa.

"So he's been here all along?" Cloud whispered to Aerith.

Aerith just pursed her lips, not knowing how to explain the situation.

Rufus ShinRa just stared at her, not knowing how to answer. "N…no." he finally said.

She took a slow intake of breath as she stared at him in disappointment. She placed her "hand" down on the bed, making sure he was turned away from her and could not see the miserable look on her face.

"This isn't working out well, huh?" she asked with a voice that seemed to falter as she kept her eyes glued to the wooden floor.

He could tell that she was crying. He could feel it… somehow; maybe because he was attached to her. But he wondered if he could still be capable of feeling her emotions and knowing what she feels deep inside if he becomes separated from her. But what can he do? He just kept quiet and pretended that nothing was wrong. Besides, how could someone like Tifa possibly feel something towards him? For him, he was such an unlikable person. He was aware of his rotten attitude and he was completely aware that no matter how handsome or rich he was, he no one could like him the way Tifa does.

He just shook his head in confusion. He heard her sniff; he felt her shudder but when he tried to look at her, he realized he could not because she had turned him away from herself.

"Blimey, she's crying…" he thought silently to himself, rolling his eyes. His inner conscience was scolding him to do something, but he had no intention to listen to it.

"Tifa?" they heard Cloud call out from outside.

"Leave me alone!" Tifa cried out in annoyance as she slammed her left hand against the bed and got up frustratingly.

"Look, if I'm the reason for your misery…" Rufus began, but he trailed off when he saw the tears streaming down from her face. It was for real.

She angrily got the bandages again and wrapped it around him as fast as she could. She did not want him to see her crying, especially if it was because of him, but as she wrapped him, he kept his eyes on her. He was not saying anything even as the bandages reached up to his mouth, up his nose, and then finally covered his eyes.

She stopped for a while, taking a look at the uncovered blonde hair. Finally those blue eyes cannot look at her anymore as long as those bandages are covering them. She took a deep breath as she finally finished covering her whole "hand".

She turned back to her bed and removed the covers before plopping down. She stared up at the ceiling while making sure that her right "hand" was away from her as much as possible. Moments later, she fell asleep crying quietly.

Rufus felt like he was going to suffocate. The atmosphere around him felt so gloomy. He was familiar with that kind of environment because it was similar to where he had spent most of his childhood right after his mother left him to the care of his father. Unfortunately, for him, this time, it felt more painful.

Later on, with a heavy heart, Rufus ShinRa fell asleep, wishing that he could have said something to Tifa to make her feel better… and wishing that he could have told her how he felt.

oOoOo

Rufus recognized the sound of his mobile phone ringing. He instantly opened his eyes and sat up, looking around. He was in awe to find himself back in his bedroom in the ShinRa HQ in Midgar… and he was not attached to Tifa's hand anymore!

But when he lifted his right hand to reach for his ringing mobile phone on his bedside table, he saw a small sleeping Tifa attached to his hand. She was naked but his sleeve was long enough to cover her chest. His eyes widened but he did not say a word. Somehow, he felt relieved that she was there.

He just used his left hand to grab his mobile phone, checked the caller ID and then answered the call. "Yes?"

"Happy birthday, Rufus!" he heard multiple voices speaking all at once, but he easily recognized the domineering one: Sephiroth's voice.

He narrowed his eyes. "What timeline am I in…" he was thinking before saying, "It's my birthday?"

"Silly, you're 23 today!" he heard Aerith say.

"Are you guys on speakerphone?" Rufus asked in annoyance. He felt Tifa slowly waking up because of the noise.

"Yeah, we are. So, what time is your party?" Cloud asked him.

Tifa opened her eyes and gazed up at Rufus, then at herself. She looked miserable but she did not say anything.

"I… have no idea…" Rufus turned to the digital clock on his bedside table and saw that it was only 6:30. He rolled his eyes and plopped right back on his bed, lying down comfortably. "I'll have someone call you guys up later," he said, feeling uneasy about the fact that he currently has friends whom he was never close to before, except for Sephiroth.

Tifa kept quiet while trying to keep herself covered with his sleeve.

Rufus hung up and he put down his mobile phone by the clock again before taking a deep breath. "Good morning, Tifa." He greeted rather bluntly.

She was quiet.

"Looks like it's my birthday today." He said.

She still kept quiet.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked.

"If you're 23 today then I'm still supposed to be 21 right now… and I'll turn 22 sometime later…" she said glumly.

"Really. When's your birthday?" he asked.

"May 3. What's the date today?" she asked, trying to sound like she was interested.

"January 15." He answered.

"So you were born on the same year as Cloud." She said.

"Yes. Looks like it. But I'm older by 7 months." He explained before yawning. "Go back to sleep." He told her before closing his eyes again.

She wondered why he was so relaxed and she was feeling so miserable and panicky that she was still attached to him as his right hand. "Blimey, when is this going to end? How could you sleep at a time like this?" she asked.

"Because I don't usually wake up until it's 7:30." He told her.

"Rufus!" she whined.

"Yes, Tifa?" he asked, opening his eyes. He was beginning to feel annoyed.

"Why are you so calm?" she asked in an exasperated manner.

"What do you want me to do? Panic like it's the first time I've ever seen you in my hand? That's passé." He stated airily as he ran his left hand through his hair, letting his fingertips comb through his blonde locks. "Relax, Tifa. Everything's going to be alright. I'm better at keeping _dirty little secrets_…" he said, referring to her with a sly but teasing smile on his face.

She frowned at him. "Rufus, I am naked and I am uncomfortable." She snapped.

"So? Like it's the first time I've seen you…" he trailed off, realizing what he had just said.

She was mortified, but before she could say anything, Rufus hid her under the covers to contribute to muffling her voice.

His face was red and he was taking slow deep breaths.

"Rufus, get me out of here, I'm going to suffocate! And get me some clothes!" she begged.

He slowly brought her out again. "Sure." He said as he got up and went to his dresser and opened a drawer where he could remember putting the doll's clothes from before. But there was none. "I guess we're in a different period…" he muttered before going to the intercom and pressed a button. "Rufus here. Anybody there?" he called out.

"Yes, sir?" Elena answered.

"Purchase some doll's clothes… similar to those porcelain dolls. Bring them to my room." He told her before hanging up.

"I'll bet they're going to wonder all over again why I need doll's clothes…" he muttered before going to the bathroom. Tifa closed her eyes.

"I'm going to throw a party and I want to invite everyone." He told her.

"That's really nice. But aren't they going to be surprised because you're usually… cold?" she asked directly.

Rufus checked his reflection on the mirror. "Definitely not. I'm a warm-blooded creature…" he said with a sly smile on his face as he raked his left hand's fingers through his blonde hair.

She giggled. "Oh please, stop acting like you do not know what I am talking about." She told him.

He looked at her and his smile softened, knowing that she could not see him because her eyes were closed. But he was quiet.

She smiled softly. "You changed, Rufus." She said gently.

He thought of what to say to her as he unbuttoned the top part of his white pajamas. "Is it required of me to say that you changed too?" he asked, not knowing what to say. He did not want to sound sarcastic, but he did not really know what else to say to her.

To his surprise, she said, "Yes."

He raised his eyebrows and stared at her unbelievably. "Really now?" he asked, unconvinced.

"Yes, I did. I feel I changed… in a way maybe you could never understand." She answered with a proud smile while keeping her eyes closed.

"Really now. You think I cannot understand _anything_?" he asked.

"Well… nobody is perfect." She stated flatly.

Rufus felt a little irked by what she had just mentioned because he had always kept in mind that he was the epitome of perfection and that he was perfect; he never made any mistakes. "Try me." He said sternly, meaning to challenge her.

"Well I don't think I would like to tell you right now…" she said with a playful tone.

"And why not?" he asked with an annoyed tone. He was rather annoyed at the fact that she was not afraid of him anymore and they were.

"Because you don't need to know everything that I'm thinking of." She answered simply with a determined tone.

He frowned at her. He was making annoyed faces at her already, taking advantage of the fact that her eyes were closed. However, he was taken aback and he froze when he heard her say, "And I know you're making faces already so stop it. I never knew you could be so childish!"

He was silent for a few moments before he regained his composure and retorted, "I'm not making faces, mind you."

"Don't deny it, Rufus. I can _feel_ you." She told him sternly.

"What?" he asked in disbelief.

"You heard me, I can feel you." She told him.

"That is ridiculous. Are you claiming that you can feel whatever I am doing and feeling just because you are attached to me?" he asked.

"Yes." She answered simply.

Rufus eyed her ridiculously but he did not say anything more that could give her any more ideas that could make him more confused. "Well if what she's saying is true, then I'll just shut up and speak through my _mind_, perhaps." He decided quietly.

He proceeded quietly with his business. Tifa was quiet, waiting for him to speak up again and make a remark, but she just felt that he had no intention to speak. She sighed heavily. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that maybe if you keep quiet and instead, speak through your mind, I'll still be able to understand you." She told him.

"You're a very good mind reader," he thought. And he smiled softly.

She felt him smile and she was glad by his response. "Not really," she pointed out.

His facial muscles stiffened and his smile faded away.

"You're not smiling anymore," she said.

He took a deep breath as he walked over to his closet.

"You're exasperated about something, Rufus," she said.

"Oh could you do me a favor and shut up?" he told her in a demanding tone.

She giggled.

"What?" he demanded.

"You're just saying that but you do not really mean it. You're confused, Rufus." She told him.

He rolled his eyes.

"I totally felt that." she told him.

"Really now?" he asked.

"You rolled your eyes." She pointed out.

"You peeked. Shame on you." He told her.

"I did not peek, mind you." She said sternly. She sighed heavily. "Blimey, why can't you just trust me and have faith in what I'm saying?" she asked.

"Because how can I know if you could be trusted?" he asked her.

"I _can_ be trusted. We're friends, aren't we?" she asked innocently.

He was surprised with what she had just mentioned. "I never really considered it that way…" he began with a hesitant tone.

"Right." She said, although she was sarcastic.

He opened his closet and grabbed a random white suit and a random black turtleneck sweater.

"You want an explanation for that?" she asked.

He was impressed with her. She had become braver and more outspoken towards him. However, before he could answer, she already continued to speak, "Well we've been together for almost a year now, Rufus. And I'm afraid I've gotten to know you so much better even though you seldom tell me so much about yourself."

"Is that how you base your judgment from on when you can call someone your friend?" he asked rather haughtily.

"…Not only that. I trust you, Rufus." She told him.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, surprised by what she told him.

"You took care of me for months, then I took care of you when you became a part of my hand. I entrusted my life to you and… I hoped that when you were my right hand, you learned to trust me too; because I didn't want anything bad to happen to you. I only wished for your safety, Rufus." She told him.

He looked at her. Her head was bowed down but her eyes were still closed. He knew she could keep her word; that if she promised to keep her eyes shut, she would keep it shut until he could say that she could open them. She had always been so sincere with him.

"What are you trying to tell me?" he asked.

She smiled gently. "I changed, Rufus. I… never knew I could… uh…" she stammered.

Rufus waited for her to continue but she was just quiet afterwards.

Rufus looked up at his reflection in the mirror. He could sense from her that she would like to say something important to him, but he was unsure of it. For all he knew, he also wanted to tell her something, but he was afraid to surprise her.

"Never mind. Let's talk about it later after I'm finished planning the party for tonight." He told her sternly.

Tifa just bit her lower lip and shuddered, nodding her head slightly.

oOoOo

For the rest of the day, Rufus remained in his office attending to financial and business matters regarding his company. He still managed to kept Tifa bandaged up and hidden under his desk as he worked, struggling to sign papers with his left hand.

"Really, Rufus, what happened to your hand?" Sephiroth asked for the nth time that day when he entered the President's Office around 2 in the afternoon to submit some papers regarding SOLDIER.

"It's… some kind of allergy." Rufus answered.

"Something you ate?" Sephiroth asked.

"…Yes." Rufus answered plainly as he continued to sign papers.

"Can I see?" Sephiroth asked.

"No." Rufus answered sternly.

"Have you let a physician check it out?" Sephiroth asked.

"It's just a minor allergy; nothing too complicated. I've taken antihistamines for this one and I apply ointment on it twice a day; one in the morning and one at night." Rufus explained flatly.

Sephiroth, however, was unconvinced. "You think it's going to go away tonight for your party?" he asked.

"I hope so." Rufus answered mindlessly as he continued to write, but he stopped when he felt Tifa move. He frowned slightly and looked up at Sephiroth as he let go of his pen. "Where's Elena?" he asked.

"Turk Office, I suppose," Sephiroth answered.

Rufus eyed him quietly while thinking about what to say to Sephiroth, "Go away! Why are you prying into my life? I know you're curious about this bloody hand but don't you know how to mind your own business for once?" he wanted to say that, but he did not want to provoke his friend. Tifa was thinking of something in the same lines as what Rufus was thinking, but she could not speak up; otherwise, Sephiroth will be surprised. Who knows what else could happen when somebody else finds out about her being in Rufus's right hand?

Rufus looked away, taking a deep breath as he got up from his chair. "I'm going out for a latte." He told Sephiroth before grabbing his mobile phone and placed it in his pocket. "You can reach me through my mobile phone for emergencies." He continued.

"Wait a sec, you're not taking me with you?" Sephiroth demanded with a frown on his face.

"Why? Are you my personal bodyguard?" Rufus asked sarcastically as he shoved his bandaged "hand" inside the pocket of his blazer.

Sephiroth gave him a look of annoyance. "Well duh, you assigned me to be your personal bodyguard, remember? Along with Zack and Cloud?" he reminded him.

Rufus gave him a dumbfounded stare. "Zack?" he asked.

"Zack?" Tifa repeated in her mind.

"Isn't he dead?" Rufus and Tifa were thinking at the same time.

"Yeah, Zack." Sephiroth answered.

They were interrupted when Aerith suddenly arrived with a clipboard in her hands. Rufus was surprised to see her wearing a pink business suit with white heeled shoes instead of her usual pink dress, brown boots and pink jacket. "Uh… yes, Aerith?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"I just came here to ask for your approval of the location so that we can start fixing it up for the occasion later on." Aerith told him with a smile on her face.

"What occasion?" Rufus asked in confusion.

"What's wrong with your head? Is that allergy giving you memory loss or something?" Sephiroth asked impatiently as he grabbed hold of Rufus's right hand and started to unwound the bandages. Tifa felt like she was being suffocated as he kept his hands tightly around her head.

"Blimey!" Rufus felt that his _hand_ got strangled so he withdrew her instantly away from Sephiroth. "Leave my hand alone. I'm perfectly fine. I'm just a little… sleepy. I need caffeine to perk me up, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." He told him as he adjusted the bandages again to keep it snug and in place as he walked away.

Tifa thought she was going to die, but she was relieved that Rufus was quick enough to move her away from Sephiroth. "That's what I call a killer grip…" she was thinking to herself.

"Oh and in case you're asking, it's your birthday party tonight that we're planning," Aerith reminded Rufus as she and Sephiroth followed after him.

"Why are you following me?" Rufus asked in annoyance as he sped up towards the elevator.

"I'm your bodyguard. You're not leaving this building without me." Sephiroth told him sternly.

"And I'd like to ask you if you would like your party to be at the convention center or at the ballroom on the 7th floor?" Aerith asked him.

"Ballroom is fine. Make it formal. The motif is white." Rufus told her.

"What is this, a wedding?" Tifa thought to herself, but then again, it was Rufus's favorite color.

"Red and white." Sephiroth corrected him.

"Why?" Rufus asked.

"You want it to look like you're gonna get married or something?" Sephiroth asked.

"Fine, red and white…" Rufus decided.

Aerith nodded. "Alright. Your grand entrance will be at 8 in the evening. I've already confirmed with your guests. I've invited everyone from your list." She said before going on separate ways from the two. Rufus observed where she was heading for while waiting for the elevator. "What's she doing here?" he asked Sephiroth.

"She's your Public Relations and Advertising Manager." Sephiroth reminded him.

Tifa could tell that he was already confused with Rufus's situation.

While aboard the elevator, Rufus listened as Sephiroth made a call to Cloud and Zack, informing them that Rufus would be leaving the building and that the car needs to be parked by the front lobby to accommodate him. He also instructed Zack to drive.

When they arrived at the lobby, Rufus saw flowers being delivered. He saw one of the Turks with the long brown hair in a high ponytail instructing the deliverymen to bring the flowers to the 7th floor ballroom. Rufus could not completely recall who she was, but he knew she was one of the best Turks.

The female Turk eyed Rufus. "Good afternoon, President Rufus," she greeted pleasantly before turning her gaze to Sephiroth who was looking at her with a sly smile on his face. Her facial expression turned sour and she stuck out her tongue at him.

Sephiroth just snickered and turned away as he continued to walk with Rufus to the white car that was waiting for them outside the building.

"What's her weapon again?" Rufus asked.

"Shotgun." Sephiroth answered.

Rufus looked back at the Turk and then shifted his gaze to Sephiroth. "Did she just make a face at you?" he asked.

"She does that all the time." Sephiroth told him.

Rufus frowned. "No she doesn't." he said. From what he could recall, Sephiroth was one of her superiors aside from Tseng and Veld, since she trained in the ShinRa Military Academy. He knew Sephiroth hated it when his cadets showed any sort of disrespect towards him.

Sephiroth looked at him unbelievably. "I think you really need the coffee." He told him.

Rufus just kept quiet.

When they got out of the building, they saw Cloud Strife waiting outside the car while Zack was already seated inside and starting the engine.

Rufus saw that Cloud was already wearing the First Class SOLDIER uniform. He did not say anything but Cloud greeted him pleasantly, "Hey, Rufus." He opened the door for him.

Tifa was surprised to hear Cloud's voice.

Rufus hesitated for a moment but he got in. Cloud followed after him, eventually sitting beside him.

Sephiroth sat on the front passenger seat.

"Where to, Rufus?" Zack asked.

Rufus and Tifa were surprised. The three obviously work for him but they were also buddies with him. He felt disturbed yet enlightened at the fact that he actually had friends… and he could tell somehow that those were the faithful kind. There were a lot of changes around him too. He could actually see the clear blue skies in the daytime, his employees seem to be more at ease, happy and secure with their jobs and the atmosphere in the building seemed much lighter and less stressful compared to what he could remember.

"Somewhere I can get a fix of caffeine…" Rufus managed to answer flatly.

Cloud noticed the discomfort in his tone. "You okay?" he asked.

"…He's just sleepy. Better keep him awake for tonight. Heheh." Sephiroth told them.

"Haha! Oh yeah." Zack cheered as he began to drive.

Rufus could feel that the three were planning something bad for him. "…what are you talking about?" he asked.

Tifa was beginning to feel restless. She could feel Rufus getting nervous.

"Are you nuts? We've been doing this for a long time ever since you turned 18!" Sephiroth told him.

"We… we do?" Rufus asked.

"After your formal parties, we head down to 7th Heaven for drinks." Zack told him.

Tifa felt her heart stop for a moment when she heard that.

Rufus drew his right "hand" closer to him.

"Man, he's cracking me up." Cloud told Sephiroth and Zack while stopping the urge to laugh. "I can't believe you'd be this disoriented without caffeine!" he told Rufus.

Rufus was dumbfounded. "We do this everytime there's a birthday?" he asked.

"No, just your birthday." Cloud answered.

"Unfortunately, tonight, Tifa's not around." Zack told them.

Rufus's eyes widened. "Oh really? What happened to her?" he asked.

"Whoooot! He's worried! Haha!" Zack cheered happily.

Cloud nudged Rufus in a teasing manner.

Sephiroth smiled coolly and took a deep breath. "Nobody knows. She just disappeared." He said.

"We really need to feed him lots of espresso to perk him up. He can't even remember that he sent a search party to search for her." Cloud told Sephiroth and Zack.

"Shame on you, Rufus! Is that how you treat the girl you've have a crush on ever since you were 15? You just tend to forget her when you're sleepy like that?" Zack asked with a disapproving look on his face.

Tifa's mouth dropped open.

Rufus felt his cheeks getting warmer. Tifa felt him getting warmer.

"I beg your pardon?" Rufus asked, trying to keep his poise and trying to sound calm.

"You have a crush on Tifa." Cloud pointed out.

"I do?" Rufus asked.

"Yeah." Sephiroth answered with a silly smile on his face.

"No, I don't." Rufus told them.

Tifa clenched her fists and her jaw. "What the bloody hell is going on?" she thought in confusion.

"Right. Deny." Zack said, rolling his eyes. Cloud and Sephiroth laughed at Rufus.

Tifa was surprised to hear Cloud and Sephiroth laugh in a manner that exuded fun. "They're… so different. They sound so happy… I've never really heard Cloud laugh that way before…" she realized.

"Don't be embarrassed around us, Rufus. We all know about you having a crush on Tifa…. And aren't you planning on telling her how much you care for her tonight at your party?" Zack asked.

"What? I planned that?" Rufus demanded in shock.

"Yeah," Cloud answered.

"Too bad she's missing. I guess she won't be there… maybe some other time when you find her…" Sephiroth began, but Rufus retaliated, "Oh stop talking!"

The three were surprised by his reaction. "… anything wrong, Rufus?" Cloud asked.

"Do you want anyone else to hear you?" Rufus demanded, his face totally red.

Cloud raised his eyebrows when he saw how red Rufus's face was.

"What's wrong? It's only the four of us here." Sephiroth reminded him.

"No, actually, there's _five_ of us…" Rufus was thinking quietly as he wished secretly that Tifa was sleeping and could not hear anything that they were talking about. "…never mind. I don't want to talk about it." He told them.

"You don't want to talk about it? You just bought her a ring yesterday." Cloud reminded him.

Tifa was beginning to get excited. "Oh if only…" she was thinking to herself with a soft smile on her face. Imagining Rufus ShinRa proposing to her was something she hadn't dreamed of and the likes of it happening was making her giddy.

"No, I don't want to talk about it…" Rufus answered, but he was curious on where he hid the ring. "I bought her a ring?" he asked.

"Hahah. He said he didn't wanna talk about it but how come he's asking about the ring?" Sephiroth asked with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Because I forgot where I placed it." Rufus told him.

"Who knows where you placed it? We weren't really there when you hid it. We were just with you when you bought it." Zack answered.

"Damn." Rufus muttered.

"Anything wrong?" Cloud asked.

"I forgot where I hid it…" Rufus fibbed.

"He's really playing along quite nicely…" Tifa was thinking to herself, trying to convince herself that Rufus was just playing along. "Dream on, girl. He will never have the intention to get engaged to you." She thought. Although she kept on wondering about the Rufus that Sephiroth, Cloud and Zack knew at that moment. Did Rufus really have a crush on the Tifa that they kept on mentioning?

"Rufus, how could you forget about the ring!" Zack told Rufus, interrupting Tifa's thoughts.

"… I just did! I think I… drank too much last night…" Rufus answered.

"You were drinking last night?" Zack asked unbelievably.

"I was thirsty. I thought it was water but it turned out to be vodka. Silly me. I must've been too exhausted to notice." Rufus fibbed.

His friends were quiet.

"You're planning to propose to Tifa tonight. You want her to be your girlfriend and you want her to be your fiancée. Now do you remember?" Sephiroth reminded him.

"Unfortunately, the girl is missing. Too bad." Zack told him.

Rufus was just quiet, trying to figure out what else to say, but he was speechless. He was still secretly wishing for Tifa to be asleep while the conversation was on-going.

Tifa swallowed hard. "Damn…" she thought miserably with a pout.

oOoOo

_5:30pm_…

Rufus returned to his bedroom, already wide-awake because of the coffee. Tifa also felt the jolt caused by the caffeine intake of Rufus because they practically shared a circulatory system. Rufus locked the door and carefully removed the bandages around his right "hand". "There you go," he told her half-heartedly.

She took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Finally. I can breathe well…" she muttered. "What time is it?" she asked.

"5:30." He told her before he took off his white blazer and placed it neatly on a chair. "I'm going to get ready for the occasion later." He said.

"Isn't it too early?" she asked, remembering that the party starts at 8.

"It normally takes me an hour and a half to get ready, but since you're attached to my hand, I might need an extra hour or so…" he answered before realizing that he had to get dressed so he wrapped the bandages around her again.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm going to bathe, I'm going to get dressed; therefore, you need to keep your eyes shut." He told her.

"This is abuse. I can just close my eyes!" she told him in protest.

"Well as long as you're attached to me, I guess I can abuse you as much as I want to." Rufus told her playfully with a mocking tone.

She hated the way he sounded but she could not see his face anymore because he was finished wrapping the bandages around her. "I swear once I grow back to my original size, I'm going to kick your arse." She sneered.

He smiled at what she said. "Really now?" he asked, feeling amused.

"Bloody hell, yes!" she answered.

He observed his wrapped "hand". He could tell that she was struggling to move because the bulges around the bandages were moving. She kept on blabbing to him about how much she would want to get the bandages off because she wanted to breathe properly, but he just listened quietly as he drew her closer to his face. Tifa felt that he just raised her up but that did not stop her from nagging him.

He had a faint smile on his face, knowing he could freely express some emotion on his face because nobody else could see him. Then quickly, he brushed a kiss on her head.

She stopped talking. "What was that?" she asked.

Rufus just eyed the bandaged Tifa in front of her.

"What did you just do to me?" she demanded in annoyance. She hated it when Rufus took advantage of her whenever she was wrapped in bandages and could not see.

He smiled and brought her down again. "Nothing; I just tapped your head with my finger." He answered as he headed for the bathroom to prepare his bath.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

oOoOo

"You are… so unfair. Why are you wrapping me again in bandages?" Tifa demanded. He just removed the bandages when he allowed her to dress up in the black ball gown that he had asked his Turks to buy for him in a doll store, and now he was wrapping her again with those bandages. "Because in a few minutes, one of the Turks or one of my friends will come in here to tell me that it's time to go to the ballroom." Rufus answered as he finished wrapping the bandages around her head.

"It's only 7:00." She muttered, knowing that his signal to enter the ballroom would arrive around fifteen minutes before 8.

"Better be cautious. I don't like any of them to see you like this." He told her as he went over to his drawers. "Now to search for that bloody ring…" he was thinking to himself.

Tifa could hear him searching for something. "What are you looking for?" she asked.

"My gold cufflinks." He answered.

"You're already wearing them." She reminded him.

"No, I'm not." He fibbed as he continued to search.

Tifa grunted. "This ball gown is really itchy…" she complained.

"Well it looks nice on you so stop complaining." He told her.

"I can't believe you want me to sacrifice comfort just because it looks good on me. And come to think of it, you'll be the only one to see me wearing this black ball gown, so why bother making me wear this if you cannot even show me off?" she demanded.

"Everything is supposed to look perfect and dashing tonight, including _you_ since you're attached to me." He told her reassuringly.

She snickered.

"What's so funny?" he demanded before closing his drawers and went over to his bedside table to check the drawers there.

"You? Perfect and dashing? Hahaha!" she laughed at him.

He frowned. "Stop teasing me." He muttered before opening the top drawer. He was surprised to find a picture of himself with Tifa. The background looked dark but he could see a wine cabinet behind them. He figured that it must have been taken at the 7th Heaven Bar. He slowly picked it up and examined it. They were standing together and his hands were inside the pockets of his trousers while she leaned her head on his shoulder. He looked a bit uncomfortable and his cheeks were a little red while she was smiling happily. He flipped the photo and read what was written at the back. "_To my dearest Rufus._ _Love, Tifa._"

He smiled faintly upon reading that and he blushed slightly.

Tifa felt that he was warming up again but she just decided to keep quiet.

Rufus turned back to the drawer and saw a small red velvet box. He blinked as he picked it up and opened it. Inside was a silver ring with a diamond on it. He raised his eyebrows. "Bloody brilliant…" he thought before placing the ring inside his pocket. With that, he sat down on his bed for a moment, trying to think of something to say to Tifa.

"Rufus," she said, curious upon his silence.

He did not speak up. He just stared into empty space.

"We were talking this morning…" she began.

Rufus felt alarmed. He was still unaware on how he was going to explain to her how he really felt. Of all the things he hated, it was letting his emotions show and letting other people know how he felt about certain things. He knew he could trust Tifa, but he was still worried.

When she sensed that he had no intention to speak up, she just took a deep breath and said, "I know it's not easy for you to trust people. But I'm glad that you trusted me all these times we've been together…" she told him.

Rufus looked at her. He wished she could look at him but there were bandages around her. She could not even see him. He heard her chuckle weakly. "I just wish I was in my normal size so that I could…" he heard her say.

He frowned slightly. "So that you could what?" he asked. He began to feel nervous. But before she could explain herself, he got up and spoke up, "I think we have to get going to the ballroom…" although he checked the time and it was nowhere near 8:00pm.

"You said we'll talk about _it_ after you're finished planning for your party! Your party has been planned by Aerith and your friends, and you're not even doing anything right now, so why don't you talk to me now?" she demanded with a choke. It was already hard for her to express her deepest emotions to him, but how come he was making it harder for her? But she knew she had to be strong. She failed to let Cloud know before, and it was a mistake she would not want to commit ever again. When she let him go, she decided to herself that the next man she would fall in-love with would know how much she loves him no matter what it takes. Easier said than done.

Rufus did not even respond to her. He exited his room quietly and made his way to the hallway leading to the elevators. Tifa knew that they were outside his room so she stopped talking, but Rufus could feel that she was shaking and it was obvious. It looked like his right hand was shaking so he hid her inside his pocket. When he reached the entrance of the ballroom, he was greeted by Tseng, Reno, Rude and Elena. "President Rufus, you're here early?" Elena asked as Tseng checked his clipboard.

"Miss Gainsborough told us you'd be having your grand entrance at 8." Reno pointed out.

"I know that. But I want to be here early so…" Rufus began.

"Oh no, you don't. You're not ruining Aerith's plan. Go wait somewhere," Cloud told him as he and Sephiroth just arrived out of nowhere and dragged Rufus away from the ballroom entrance. The two were dressed in black suits.

"Oh blimey! This is my party and I'll come and go as I please!" Rufus told them in a whiny manner as he was taken to a private VIP waiting room a few rooms away from the ballroom.

"Since when did you stop becoming so obsessive-compulsive? You used to agree to every detailed plan we make for you!" Sephiroth told him as they seated Rufus on a couch.

"Well I want the party to be over with." Rufus muttered.

Cloud and Sephiroth exchanged looks. "Oh. I see what you mean. He's already bored because Tifa is missing." The latter said.

"Yeah, too bad she couldn't make it because she's not anywhere around." Cloud said before turning back to Rufus. "But don't get us wrong, Rufus, we tried searching for Tifa. We were even calling her cellphone but it seems to be switched off. We tried checking in Nibelheim but she's not there either." He told his friend.

"Have you checked Mideel?" Rufus asked sarcastically.

"Mwahahah. Why? Have you bought her a private condominium unit in one of the prestigious resident towers in Mideel?" Sephiroth mocked.

Rufus eyed them with a blank stare.

Sephiroth bit his lower lip. "Okay, I guess you're not in the mood for my jokes…" he muttered.

Rufus looked away and crossed his arms as he leaned back on the big couch. Just then, Aerith, Vincent and Zack arrived with the Turks.

"Oh good you're here!" Aerith told Rufus as she ran up to him. She was wearing a baby pink gown, while Zack and Vincent were wearing black suits.

"What now?" Rufus demanded impatiently.

"Gee… I could tell you're not in one of your merry moods, and I don't think my news is going to cheer you up." Vincent began.

"What news?" Rufus asked.

"We couldn't find Tifa." Zack told him.

Aerith sat down beside Rufus. "So who are you going to escort to the ballroom?" she asked.

Sephiroth thought for a while before telling him, "You can borrow Yuffie for a while…" he said with a sneer.

"Man, do you want to send the wrong signals to the guests? Besides, Lord Godo wouldn't want that." Zack protested to Sephiroth.

"You're defensive…" Aerith teased Zack before turning back to Rufus.

"I don't need to escort anyone." Rufus told them.

"Or we can make Cloud dress up as a girl…" Sephiroth suggested.

Cloud eyed him warningly. Sephiroth just laughed.

Rufus got up and went to the window. "Just leave me alone here for a while. Tifa will come here. I just talked to her an hour ago. She will come here to my party and we'll enter the ballroom together." He told them. He just had to say that to make them shut up. Besides, he suddenly had a new plan in mind.

His friends were surprised.

"Really? How did you manage to talk to her? Where is she?" Zack asked in wonder.

"…Sephiroth, you were right. She's in Mideel." Rufus mentioned.

Sephiroth's eyes widened.

"I have a house there, I made her go there for a while to take a vacation. But no use looking for her there now. I've already made plans for her to go back here." Rufus told them, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Well then that's splendid. Turks, you go down to the entrance and wait for Miss Lockheart's arrival." Vincent commanded.

"Yessir!" the four Turks saluted to their new boss and exited.

The room was silent for a few moments after the Turks had left before Rufus spoke up again. "I want to be left alone here. Just attend to my guests in the ballroom and at 8, I'll be entering with Tifa."

Aerith smiled at him. "Oh I'm glad you told us. I thought everything will be ruined!" she said with a look of relief. She got up and took Cloud's hand. "See you later, Rufus," Cloud told him before he and Aerith exited.

Sephiroth, Zack and Vincent followed after them. "Later." Zack told Rufus before the three of them left.

As soon as Rufus knew that he was the only one left in the room, he slowly pulled his "right hand" out of his pocket and stared at it curiously. "Tifa?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're thinking but it's making me angry. Why tell them that I'm coming back here from Mideel while I'm just attached to your hand? Are you planning to reveal to everyone in the ballroom that I'm attached to your hand?" Tifa demanded.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Must you nag all the time, Tifa?" he asked as he walked towards the door.

"Well you deserve some nagging after all I've gone through with you!" she snapped at him.

He just smiled slyly. "It's alright. I can always listen to your nagging. In fact it amuses me." He told her. For once, someone was not afraid to tell him off, and he admired her courage to do so; because usually, people would be so afraid to defy his ideas and the way he thinks.

"Are you mocking me? I don't like the way you're insulting me, Rufus. You ought to be…" she began.

"Hush, Tifa." He whispered to her as he carefully opened the door and took a peek to see if the coast was clear. He could hear and see Sephiroth teasing Zack and Yuffie; Cloud talking to someone on his mobile phone, Aerith laughing with Barret, Vincent and Lucrecia having their picture taken by Cid Highwind; and Reeve and Scarlet arguing about the color of the carpet while they were all standing guard by the ballroom door. They all seemed to be busy with their own world, so Rufus took to opportunity to discreetly step out of the room and rush to the emergency staircase without Tifa knowing it.

Tifa, however, could sense movement from Rufus and she could feel his heart and pulse racing as if he was in a hurry. She just kept quiet because he told her earlier to do so. "Where is he going now?" she wondered silently.

Rufus descended the stairs until he reached the ground floor and the back exit door. Then he carefully made his way to the garage and began to search for his car. The car key was in his pocket and he got it. Just then, he remembered that he has a disabled right hand and that he could not drive. "Blimey…" he muttered before returning the key in his pocket and left the garage. He just decided to walk, and as soon as he got out of the ShinRa HQ premises, he made his way to the bus stop, not caring if people were staring at him because they were able to recognize him.

Tifa could hear street noises, car horns, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles passing by. "Oh now what? Where are we going?" she wanted to ask him but she knew she had to keep her mouth shut.

Rufus waited and checked his watch. It was 7:45. He sighed heavily. Then he heard the sound of the bus beeping. It stopped before him and the door opened. He hopped aboard. "Where is this bus heading to?" he asked.

The bus driver and the other passengers stared at him in awe. "Uh… Mister President… what are you doing here?" the bus driver asked in disbelief.

"Where is this bus heading to?" Rufus repeated sternly.

Tifa breathed in. "A bus?" she thought, frowning.

"Uh… Chocobo Farm. But we'll pass by the Kalm Highway." The bus driver answered.

Rufus used his left hand to pull out his wallet. He fished out 20 gil and handed it to the bus driver. "Keep the change." He said before proceeding to look for a seat. Since he did not want people to stare more at him, he decided to sit at the back of the bus. Certain that nobody was looking anymore, he pulled out Tifa from his pocket and carefully unwound the bandages around her. She was surprised and she looked around. Her eyes were asking him where they were going but he just looked at her. His jaw was clenched and he had a smug look on his face.

When the bus stopped in the middle of the highway in Kalm, Rufus placed her inside his pocket once more and he got up from his seat to go down.

Once he got down, he watched as the bus drove off and he just stood still for a moment, feeling the cool air blowing against him. He brought out Tifa. "Lovely evening, don't you think so?" he asked.

She breathed in the cool fresh evening air as she gazed up at the night sky filled with stars. She smiled. She loved to gaze at the stars. "Why are we here?" she asked.

He began to walk. "I figured that if I can't show up without you by my side at my party, I'd rather be alone here with you." He told her with an arrogant tone.

She frowned at the tone of his voice but a part of her felt giddy at what he told her. She just smiled and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well I'm getting claustrophobic whenever there are too many people around us and I'm wrapped in bandages. But it's nice of you to tell me that you'd rather be alone here with me! But really, Rufus, even if you show up at the party, I'll still be by your side because I'm attached to you!" she said.

"Yes, you're attached to me but you'll be wrapped in bandages and stuffed inside my pocket. I want the people to see you but not in the current state you're in." he told her as he stopped walking. He sighed heavily. "How do you feel now, Tifa?" he asked as he kept his eyes on her.

She wondered why he was looking at her like that. "Is there a problem, Rufus?" she asked.

His lips curled into a scornful pout. "If we wake up the next day and things are back to normal, do you think we'll be able to remember everything that happened?" he asked.

She thought she felt her heart sink when she heard that. "God forbid…" she began. "At least one of us should remember? And then when that happens, one of us will have to remind the other!" she continued with a hopeful look on her face.

"But what if the other isn't convinced?" he asked.

She fell silent.

He looked away and started to walk again. "I now see the point on why this happened to us, but I don't know if I'm right. But I swear, I'm right when I reflected on this…" he said.

She looked up at the stars again.

"No matter how we look at it, we're from completely different worlds. And this experience has been a total eye-opener for me. I'd like to thank you for making me realize that I am capable of caring for another person aside from myself." He told her.

She smiled. Finally he was opening up to her. "You're always welcome, Rufus." She said softly.

Rufus stopped walking and pulled out the box from his pocket. He got the ring and handed it to her. She held it with her two small hands and she stared at it in awe.

"If anything happens to us, I always want you to remember that… I…" Rufus stammered.

She looked up at him curiously. "Yes, Rufus?" she asked with a pleased smile on her face.

He froze up. "Oh no… just spit out the words!" he was scolding himself silently, but he could not continue to speak up.

Just then, they heard the ShinRa chopper flying overhead with search lights aiming at them. Its brightness made them cringe and it blinded them for a moment before they managed to adjust their vision to the chopper as they looked up at it. "What the bloody hell…" Rufus began in annoyance.

"Rufus, there you are! We've been looking for you!" they heard Sephiroth shout from the chopper as it landed.

"Oh no…" Rufus's eyes widened when he saw Sephiroth, Cloud and Aerith getting down from the chopper and coming at him. They were all looking at his hand.

"What the hell is …" Sephiroth trailed off upon recognizing Tifa.

"…Tifa?" Cloud asked in awe.

Rufus hid his hand away from them as he tried to think of an excuse, but his mind went blank when he saw Aerith smiling at him gently. "Are you ready, Rufus?" she asked him.

Rufus frowned. Tifa felt alarmed because she felt as if she was being torn apart on the inside.

Just then, a blinding light flashed from where Aerith was standing…

oOoOo

Tifa gasped as she sat up on the bed and opened her eyes. The room was very bright and the morning sunlight blinded her for a moment so she closed her eyes again and bowed down her head, letting her long black hair cover her face as she used her right hand to gently rub her eyes. "Oooh…" she moaned in frustration before slowly opening her eyes to let her vision adjust to the brightness of the room. Then, she looked around. She was in her bedroom but she felt a little alien to that place and she wondered why. She just had a weird dream but she could not remember what happened. She turned her gaze to the clock and the time read 7:00am. Slowly, she got off the bed and saw that she had failed to change her clothes… and she was still wearing her shoes. She wondered what happened to her the other night, but she immediately dismissed the thought when she heard footsteps from outside her bedroom walking across the hallway. She opened the door and saw Aerith walking towards the stairs wearing a pink bathrobe and pink fluffy slippers. The hallway looked different too, but it seemed like Tifa did not notice. "Oh. Hi, Aerith." She greeted cheerfully.

Aerith stopped walking and turned to her friend. "Hi, Tifa." She said happily. "You're up early." She said.

"I have to prepare breakfast for Marlene and Denzel." Tifa told her.

Aerith blinked. "Marlene and Denzel do not live here; they live with Barret." she trailed off when she noticed that Tifa was already completely dressed. "What time did you get in last night?" she asked.

Tifa felt as if something hit her head but she could not figure out what it meant. How come she felt different? And since when did she start preparing breakfast for Marlene and Denzel? "I'm… not sure. But I was too tired, I guess… because I slept on these clothes. Haha!" she answered weakly with a weak laugh.

"Yeah… I noticed…" Aerith said, feeling worried for her friend.

Tifa stepped out of her room and approached Aerith, slowly remember her dream from last night. "I'm sorry if I'm disoriented… I just had this really weird dream last night…You were dead! Sephiroth killed you and Cloud was so devastated… and then a lot of bad things happened too. Like, Meteor?" she told Aerith.

Aerith eyed her curiously. "I died in your dream? And Meteor?" she asked.

"Yes because Sephiroth killed you! And Meteor almost destroyed the Planet, and then there was Geostigma and… Oh dear, it all seemed so real! And we were living in a small house in Sector 7, then when it got destroyed, I moved to Edge and then there were these three horrible silver-haired men and their names were Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz and…" Tifa trailed off with tears in her eyes.

Aerith felt her heart sinking. "Aww, don't cry!" she embraced her friend.

Tifa sniffed as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. She felt afraid all of a sudden. "I'm just… happy that it's just a dream!" she told her.

"Yes, it's just a dream and be thankful that you're awake now! So we're in Sector 7 but this is a big house! And what's Edge?" Aerith stated with a gentle smile on her face.

"…I don't know… a place somewhere near Midgar because Sector 7 got destroyed?" Tifa was not sure anymore.

They were interrupted when Cloud came out from one of the rooms at the end of the already-big hallway wearing a white loose shirt and blue board shorts. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

"Oh nothing. Tifa just had a _bad dream_." Aerith told him with a wink.

Cloud thought for a while before nodding with a slight smile on his face. "I see…" was all he said before approaching them and gave Tifa a pat on the shoulder. "It's all a dream, stop worrying about it." He said before going down the stairs.

Aerith let go of Tifa and led her back to her bedroom. "Alright, just rest here for a while. I think you're too shaken. I'll just prepare breakfast. I'll call you once it's ready." She said.

Tifa just nodded, still feeling shaken. Aerith helped her sit down on the bed. Tifa saw that her friend is wearing a gold ring on her left ring finger. "Oh you're married!" she said in amazement.

Aerith blinked. "…you really are shaken. Of course I'm married!" she said with a laugh.

Tifa eyed her sternly. "To Cloud, right?" she asked.

Aerith eyed her in wonder. "Of course. Who else?" she asked before moving away from her. "And I think you're really hungry because your memory is failing you." She said jokingly.

Tifa chuckled lightly. Now everything seemed alright.

"I'll just call you when breakfast is ready." Aerith told her before leaving the room.

Tifa looked around, comparing her surroundings to the surroundings that she saw in her dream. "Life seems to be much better here… I'm really glad it was just a dream…" she said as she got up and went to the window, looking outside and she was awestruck when she saw the view. Midgar looked very different from what she saw at that moment compared to her dream. And she could clearly see the ShinRa Tower in the middle of the city. But there was something about the ShinRa Tower that made her feel strange, though she could not figure it out.

oOoOo

Downstairs, Cloud was helping Aerith with preparing their breakfast. "You _died_ in her dream?" he asked with a funny look on his face.

Aerith laughed. "I know, isn't _that_ ridiculous?" she asked.

He laughed, and then they were quiet for a few moments just staring at each other with faint smiles on their faces.

"I'm just glad it's all over." Cloud told her.

She smiled gently and nodded. "Everything that happened is now just a bad dream…" she said softly.

Cloud nodded his head before looking away. "I wonder who else knows…" he told her.

Aerith just smiled before going to the refrigerator to get the milk carton.

oOoOo

"Hey, sonny boy! Wake up!"

Rufus cringed when he heard the voice of his father trying to wake him up while trying to figure out who was shaking him gently.

"Rufus, darling, wake up."

Rufus froze when he recognized the other voice. He opened his eyes and looked up at his parents who were smiling happily at him.

"Happy birthday, Rufus." His mother told him.

Rufus slowly sat up and stared wide-eyed at them.

The President and the First Lady studied the look on Rufus's face. "You look surprised to see us; is there anything wrong, darling?" the latter asked.

Rufus turned to his father.

President ShinRa eyed him curiously. "Are you okay, Rufus?" he asked.

Rufus was too shocked to speak up. How come his parents are together? He then turned to his right hand to check it. It was back to normal. He inhaled sharply and held his breath for a few moments before turning back to his parents again. "I'm… fine." He answered, although he was unsure. He looked around and the family picture on his bedside table caught his attention. It was a picture of him with his parents. They all looked happy in that picture… and it looked recent too. "What time is it?" he asked.

"It's 7:30, son. Let's have breakfast someplace else, shall we? Since it's your birthday…" President ShinRa told him.

"Oh, I'm so happy! My only son is 23 years old today!" Mrs. ShinRa embraced her son happily, surprising Rufus. "I remember it like it was only yesterday… you were born around 3 in the afternoon and you were so tiny! Now you're a big boy!" she said with ears in her eyes.

"Alright, dear, don't get all teary-eyed in front of our boy." President ShinRa told his wife jokingly.

Rufus felt weird. "…alright, I'll just… put on some decent clothes… and… where are we going again?" he asked, quite unsure of what to say.

"What about the café at the Sector 7 Park? Would that be alright?" Mrs. ShinRa asked.

"You like the food in that café ever since you were a little boy! That would be nice." President ShinRa told Rufus.

Rufus just stared unbelievably at his father. "…But it's Sector 7. We're going to need a lot of bodyguards… I'll just tell the Turks to…" he began, but his father laughed at him. "What's wrong with Sector 7?" his father asked him.

"It's the slums, _old man._" Rufus answered.

Silence.

"What slums? There are no slums here in Midgar, darling." Mrs. ShinRa told her son before gently slapping his hand. "And don't you call your father that! He's your father; have you no respect for him?" she asked.

Rufus studied the look on his father's face. He did not appear to be putting up an act; and he looked as sincere as his mother. With that, Rufus jumped off the bed and ran to the window. He gazed outside and was surprised by what he saw. "Bloody brilliant…" he murmured in amazement. "It looks so perfect…" he thought before turning to his father. "All of this… you did this?" he asked.

President ShinRa blinked. "Of course. I'm the President. What's wrong with you, are you ill, sonny boy?" he asked as he approached Rufus with a concerned look on his face.

Rufus knew that his father being so nice and caring to him plus the fact that his surroundings were already different would take a lot of getting used to. He could not wait to get out of his room to see what else had changed because of what happened to him. Then he looked at the area on where Sector 7 is located. "…Tifa…" he murmured softly.

"What's that, son?" his father asked.

"Oh… nothing… are you using Mako energy for this?" Rufus asked, wanting to be sure.

"Mako energy? That's dangerous. Do you want me to kill the Planet?" President ShinRa asked with an offended tone. "Besides, Dr. Lucrecia Valentine has found a much better source for energy that is much safer and effective for everyday use." He told him.

Rufus felt lighthearted. "That's good to hear…" he turned to his father. "…dad." He said.

It felt good being able to call his old man "dad" again.

President ShinRa embraced his son. "You're acting all weird, son. Are you sure you're alright?" he asked curiously with a worried look on his face.

"I'm alright, father…" Rufus answered before moving away. "I'll see you folks in the lobby in 15 minutes," he told them.

"Well then, we'll see you." Mrs. ShinRa said with a happy smile on her face. "Come now, dear." She told her husband. "And change your tie! It's horrible!" she told him.

"Darling, you said that this tie suits me!" the President said as he went to his wife and they exited.

Rufus sighed heavily before turning to his bedside table when he heard the message alert tone of his mobile phone. He immediately went to get his mobile phone to check his text messages. He has 5 new messages in his inbox. When he checked them, each of them came from Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth, Vincent and Marlene.

"Marlene?" he thought to himself as he read the text message from the little girl. "_Happy birthday, Rufus!__Papa reminded me to greet you. I almost forgot! Anyway, you're such a nice man. Thank you for giving me a scholarship to Midgar__Elementary School. I hope that I can come over there again so that we can play! I have a new doll and I want to show her to you!"_

Rufus could not help but smile. He was pleased. "So much has changed…" he murmured to himself before proceeding to read the other messages:

Cloud: "_Hey, birthday boy! Are we going bar-hopping tonight?"_

Zack: "_Yo buddy! Happy birthday! As soon as I dismiss my troops, let's meet in your office so that I can give you my gift."_

Sephiroth: "_RUFFEH! Mwahah. Happy bday! You're a year older again! Let's par-tay! Just tell me where!"_

Vincent: "_Drop by the Turk office today, I made my Turks do something for your birthday. You're going to have fun."_

Rufus sighed heavily as he placed his mobile phone aside. "My life is going to be very different from now on…" he thought with a pleased smile on his face before proceeding to his closet to look for something appropriate to wear for breakfast with his parents at the park.

oOoOo

Cloud, Aerith and Tifa were having breakfast.

"It's a Saturday and you guys have work?" Tifa asked.

"It's Rufus's birthday. We have to be there and help him plan." Cloud told her.

"Isn't it hard being his publicist, Aerith?" Tifa asked.

"No. He's actually nice. He may seem unfriendly at first but really, he's a people-person!" Aerith told her with a proud smile on her face.

Tifa finished her meal. "So who's going to help me with the bar tonight if you guys are partying with Rufus tonight?" she asked.

Cloud and Aerith exchanged looks. "Who says you're going to bartend tonight? You're going to come with us." He told her.

"What? But I'm not really familiar with him! We haven't even been introduced formally before…" Tifa reasoned with an uncomfortable and shy look on her face.

"That's why your first time to be formally introduced to him will be tonight." Aerith told her with a wink.

Tifa pouted. "Oh well… I have to work tonight so I can't go with you guys." She said before getting up. "Anyway, I have to buy 5 bottles of red wine and 3 bottles of champagne." She told them before picking up her plate and placed it by the sink. "I'll just see you guys later." She said before leaving, passing through the back door.

Cloud watched as she exited. "What now?" he asked Aerith as soon as Tifa had completely gone out the door.

"We have to find a way to convince her to go with us. I don't want her working alone." she told him.

"Never mind. After the party, the guys and I are planning to go to a bar. I'll just tell them to go to Tifa's 7th Heaven instead." He answered.

oOoOo

While eating breakfast with his parents, Rufus was just quiet. He was trying to observe his new surroundings and while trying to let himself get used to his parents being completely together again.

Vincent and Sephiroth served as their bodyguards and they sat with the First Family.

"You're so quiet, Rufus, are you alright?" Mrs. ShinRa asked.

Rufus stared at his food before nodding. "Well I'm full." He answered before turning to his father. "I'd like to take a walk around the park after this. May I?" he asked.

"Sure, sure, sonny boy! Your mother and I will go with you if you want to." President ShinRa said kindly.

"And tonight, Rufus, your party will be held in the ballroom of the Sector 1 Grand Hotel. It's going to be a formal event." Mrs. ShinRa said with an excited look on her face. "Your friend Aerith is really a very good planner!" she said.

"…of course. I only choose the best for my team of professionals. Besides, this is for the future of ShinRa." Rufus told them, trying to sound proud, although he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Haha. You should tell that to Aerith yourself, Rufus. She'll be proud of you and she'll ask for a raise." Sephiroth kidded his friend.

As soon as Rufus was finished with his food, he excused himself. "Can I go ahead? I want to enjoy the view alone." He told his parents.

"Sure, son. Let's just meet by the fountain in 5 minutes." President ShinRa told him.

With that, Rufus went off.

President ShinRa urged for Vincent to follow Rufus.

oOoOo

Rufus shoved his hands inside the pockets of his trousers as he stopped walking and breathed in the fresh air.

"Rufus," he heard Vincent call his name from behind.

Rufus turned around and was surprised to see Vincent. "So, how's your life as a Turk?" he asked with a slight smile on his face.

Vincent caught up with him. "Quite alright. You never asked me that before." He said with an unsure tone.

Rufus smiled slyly as he flipped his hair. "I just thought I'd ask now." He said as he offered a handshake. "We're friends, right?" he asked.

Vincent stared at his hand at first. He thought Rufus was acting weird, but he shook hands with him anyway. "Of course we are." He said with a calm smile on his face. "Even though you're much closer to my son." Vincent told him.

Rufus frowned slightly. "…Sephiroth?" he asked, wanting to be sure.

"How come you sound like you don't know? Are you alright? Do you feel ill?" Vincent asked him.

Rufus stared at him with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Must be the coffee…" he said as an excuse before turning away. "I can't believe you're his father. You look so young." He said.

"Must be the JENOVA or something." Vincent said.

"JENOVA?" Rufus asked. "Who experimented on JENOVA?" he asked.

"…Professor Hojo and Professor Gast. They tested it on me and Lucrecia. You've been tested with it too, don't you remember?" Vincent asked.

Rufus suddenly felt a chill creep up his spine. "…was it like a vaccine?" he asked.

"Yes. It's for immunity to several illnesses except for colds. It's like several vaccinations in one. Although it's very expensive. But anyway, you're ShinRa." Vincent answered.

Rufus sighed in relief. "That's nice to hear…" he muttered as he turned away and looked up at the skies. "I thought that nothing changed in terms of JENOVA…" he thought.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Vincent asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Rufus looked straight ahead. "Yes, I am." He answered before something caught his attention from his peripheral vision. He turned to his left and saw Tifa Lockheart walking by the park fences carrying three heavy grocery bags with bottles of liquor in it.

Vincent saw the way Rufus's mouth had opened slightly and the way his blue eyes widened as he caught sight of Tifa walking. He also noticed the blush forming on Rufus's cheeks.

"Does she even remember?" Rufus asked himself silently as he removed his right hand from his pocket and looked at it for a while. With that, he took a deep breath to gather enough guts before running after her. "Tifa!" he called out.

Vincent was surprised. He actually knew her name. "I thought they haven't met before?" he thought before running after Rufus.

Tifa stopped walking when she heard someone calling her name. She thought the voice sounded very familiar but she could not remember where she heard it. She turned around and saw a blonde young man in white running towards her.

Rufus stopped when he finally reached her. He caught his breath quickly and smiled at her. "Tifa," he repeated her name.

She looked up at him curiously. "Y…yes, do I know you?" she asked.

Vincent caught up with them. "Tifa," he called her attention.

Tifa turned to Vincent and smiled. "Oh, hi Vincent." She greeted.

"You two know each other?" Vincent asked her.

Tifa said no; Rufus said yes.

Vincent became confused. "How do you know about Tifa?" he asked Rufus.

Rufus began to think of a reason. "…I… she's friends with Aerith and Cloud…" he answered.

Tifa blinked as she finally recognized Rufus, but she was unable to say anything. She just stared even as Rufus turned back to her. "I'm Rufus… ShinRa." He said as he offered a handshake to her.

Tifa placed the heavy grocery bags carefully on the ground as she stared wide-eyed at his right hand. Somehow, she felt something familiar about it. She slowly took his hand and shook it firmly as she looked up at him again with a shy smile on her face. "Tifa Lockheart." She said. "Finally, we meet formally." She told him.

Rufus just smiled coolly at her.

"Rufus,"

They were interrupted when they heard the First Lady calling her son's name. Tifa, Rufus and Vincent turned to Sephiroth, the First Lady and the President. The First Couple was looking at Tifa curiously but they had friendly smiles on their faces.

"Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet Tifa Lockheart." Rufus told his parents as he withdrew his hand from Tifa.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you, Tifa," Mrs. ShinRa said, welcoming the girl with open arms.

Tifa felt somewhat stunned because she was being embraced by the First Lady.

President ShinRa smiled kindly at Tifa and offered a handshake. "Nice to meet you, young lady." He said.

Tifa shook hands with him. "Same here, sir, ma'am." She said rather shyly.

"So, is she your girlfriend, Rufus?" President ShinRa asked, nudging his son with a teasing look on his face.

Sephiroth was smirking maliciously at Rufus.

Rufus blushed slightly but he still tried to keep his cool by smiling confidently at them. "She _will_ be, mom and dad; she will be." He thought silently to himself. "Haha. Stop teasing me, dad." He told his father through clenched teeth before turning back to Tifa. "Tonight is my birthday party, would you like to be my special guest for tonight?" he asked her.

Tifa blushed intensely. "I…" she thought for a moment. "How come he seems so familiar? Like I know him already… Oh well, might as well…" she thought to herself. She smiled shyly and nodded. "Alright."

Rufus smiled. "Splendid." He said as he gazed into her brown eyes. He missed looking into those eyes.

Tifa gazed back into his blue eyes, having a familiar feeling inside her as she did so. But she could tell that their meeting would be a beginning of something wonderful.

oOoOo

-the end!- (finally)

author's note: The last two chapers were hurried because I wanted to finish them already. I did whatever I could in hurrying these chapters for just a day so that I could finally post them here.


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